Bulayïq Explained

Bulayïq (Chinese: t=葡萄溝|s=葡萄沟|first=t|p=Pútáogōu) is a locality and archaeological site in central Xinjiang province in western China. It is located 10km north of Turpan city in the foothills of the Tien-shan Mountains.^[1] It is also known as Bīlayuq.^[2]

The site in the Tapin basin is arid. The remains there include a Tell with mud brick ruins protruding from the desert sands. The ruins were excavated by a German team in 1905, led by Albert von Le Coq.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Among the ruins was found a monastic library, where a trove of ancient manuscripts in various Iranian languages were found.^[6] The texts show the influence of Orthodox and Nestorian Churches. Almost all known Christian religious texts in the ancient Sogdian language are from the Bīlayuq library.^[7] The texts show the development and spread of Christianity in Central Asia.^[8]

See also

• Murals from the Christian temple at Qocho

Notes and References

1. Nicholas Sims-Williams, BULAYÏQ, Encyclopedea Iranica.
2. P. Zieme, Türk dili araştırma yıllığı belleten; 1978-79, Ankara, 1981, p. 90
3. Le Coq, Albert von Auf Hellas Spuren in Ost-Turkestan. Berichte und Abenteuer der II. und III. deutschen Expeditionen, Leipzig, 1926, p. 88
4. JRAS, 1909, pp. 319 and 321
5. Adrien Pitea, St. Isaac of Nineveh’s Gnostic Chapters in Sogdian: The Identification of an Anonymous Text from Bulayïq 2020.
6. Erica C. D. Hunter, Syriac Sogdian and Old Uyghur manuscripts from Bulayiq.
7. Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 2015) page 1021.
8. Nicola Di Cosmo; Michael Maas, Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity: Rome, China, Iran, and the Steppe, ca. 250–750 (Cambridge University Press, 26 Apr. 2018) p 211-213