Violent Kingship: Lion Combats on Sarcophagi of Sogdian Immigrants in 6^th-Century China

Objects, images, and ideas traveled along the Silk Road through which cities, communities, and cultures on the Eurasian Continent came into contact and influenced one another. In the arts of the Silk Road, ferocious lions featured prominently. This talk focuses on a Sogdian diplomat Yu Hong (533-592) who sojourned and died in the Sui dynasty (581-619) of China. The Sogdians were an Iranian people based in the area around modern-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Sogdian merchants and diplomats frequented Chinese dynasties in the medieval period and even traveled as far to the west as the Byzantine Empire. By focusing on Yu Hong and his sarcophagus (adorned stone coffin), this talk traces the spread of the motif of king-lion combat from West Asia to China, investigating the role played by Sogdian immigrants in introducing an unprecedented symbol of kingship to Chinese emperors during the sixth century CE.