13th Oct 2022.
With Michael Shenkar.
The Sogdian culture, art and religion declined from the second half of the eighth century following the Arab conquest. The reason for this decline was not a mass-scale destruction, since the main Sogdian cities were not razed during the conquest. What was irretrievably destroyed by the Arabs was the unique Sogdian social organization. The appearance of the real dynasties in Sogdiana was also in fact a by-product of the Arab conquest.
This paper discusses the evidence for the changes in the settlement patterns in Sogdiana emphasizing continuities and important cultural shifts in the early Islamic period based on the new data from Sanjar-Shah excavations, on historical and archaeological sources and on what is known about the transformation of the Sogdian urban society as a result of the Arab conquest of the 8th century.
Location: A6-117
Time: 17.00 – 18.15