The Sogdian Wedding That United the Silk Road

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The Sogdian Wedding That United the Silk Road

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In this episode of Silk Road Empires, we explore the marriage of a Sogdian princess to a Chinese emperor — a political and cultural union that reshaped Eurasian trade. When the Tang Dynasty sought allies against the rising Tibetan Empire, they turned to the Sogdian city-states of Central Asia. The wedding of Princess Anyi to a Sogdian king in 719 CE was more than a diplomatic gesture; it was a signal that the Silk Road's commercial networks were now entwined with imperial strategy. We break down the lavish ceremony, the dowry of silk and books, and the long-term consequences for trade routes through the Hexi Corridor. Along the way, we meet the diplomat Yelü Chucai, who later used Sogdian connections to underpin the Mongol Empire's own Silk Road revival. This episode draws on the Old Book of Tang, the New Book of Tang, and recent archaeological finds in Samarkand and Turfan to reconstruct a moment when marriage became infrastructure. #Sogdian #TangDynasty #PrincessAnyi #YelüChucai #SilkRoad #HexiCorridor #TibetanEmpire #Samarkand #Turfan #OldBookOfTang #NewBookOfTang #CentralAsia #Diplomacy #TradeRoutes #History #FexingoHistory #Eurasia #MedievalHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

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