The Thing About Religion

The Ashem Vohu, a Zoroastrian prayer

This Zoroastrian manuscript was found in Dunhuang, China in the nearby "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas." It is written in Sogdian, a medieval Iranian language. Sogdian traders traveled on the Silk Road eastward to China and brought Zoroastrianism to the region, and Dunhuang was a major Silk Road city in China. Sogdian communities developed among trading posts, including in Dunhuang, and there is evidence of a Zoroastrian temple that was built in the 4th century. This manuscript contains a short text about the prophet Zarathushtra and a phonetic transcription of the Ashem Vohu prayer into Sogdian.

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