Sacred landscapes of Turan: religious beliefs, ritual practices and mythological traditions of ancient Central Asia in written sources (based on Khwandamir’s “Maosir al-Muluk”) and some archaeological sources

Annotatsiya

This thesis examines the religious beliefs, ritual practices, and mythological traditions attributed to the peoples of ancient Turan - the historical-geographical macro-region of Central Asia comprising Bactria, Sogdiana, Khwarazm, Margiana, and Fergana. Drawing on Avestan literature, Greek and Latin ethnographic accounts (Herodotus, Strabonn, Arrian, Quintus Curtius Rufus), and archaeological evidence from Bronze Age through Late Antique sites, the study reconstructs the layered religious landscape of the region: pre-Zoroastrian nature cults, the gradual and uneven spread of Zoroastrian doctrine, and epic-mythological figures such as Tur/Afrasiyab and Siyavush. The thesis argues, following recent source-critical scholarship, that “Turan” was never a single ethnic or confessional community but a shifting literary, geographical, and religious construct whose content changed considerably between the Avestan age, the classical period, and the medieval Perso-Islamic epic tradition. Methodological problems of extrapolating from later legendary sources onto earlier historical periods are given particular attention.