📜 Did you know that the tales of the “Shahnameh” (Book of Kings) existed long before Ferdowsi wrote his epic between 977 and 1010 CE, passed down through generations as part of a rich storytelling tradition. Fragments of an old manuscript were found in Dunhuang, China in 800 CE, written in the ancient Sogdian script, even tell of Shahnama hero Rustam battling demons — britishmuseum. Sogdians were Iranian-speaking people from Central Asia who were key to trade along the Silk Roads. The Sogdians are ancestors of today’s Tajiks (eastern Iranians who live in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan today). Their culture also significantly influenced the development of the Tajik identity, particularly through their language, which contributed to the formation of the Persian dialects spoken in Central Asia. After the Arab conquests and the rise of Islam, Sogdian gradually gave way to Persian (Dari), but its cultural and linguistic legacy remains deeply embedded in Tajik heritage. #Shahn...