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Acta Via Serica

Academia Via Serica

  • Semi Annual
  • /
  • 2508-5824(pISSN)

Aim & Scope

Acta Via Serica focuses on past and present human exchange (mutatio) within the Silk Road region, examining the history of relations conducted along the Silk Road and functioning as a modern information Silk Road, promoting cooperation by disseminating knowledge of contemporary Central Asia throughout the world. Acta Via Serica therefore examines historical relations and flows of goods, people (explorers, merchants, monks and migrants), and knowledge (science, technology, art, culture, religion and language) within the Silk Road region. To promote greater cooperation and understanding between East and West Acta Via Serica seeks to deepen insight into the religions, cultures, politics, economies and international relations of present-day Central Asian societies and states. As an international, open-access, journal bi-annually published in English, Acta Via Serica thus serves as a 'Silk Road Report,' providing original, insightful, interesting and important peer-reviewed research to academics, policymakers and the public on Central Asia and the Silk Road from a wide range of disciplines within the Humanities and Social Sciences, including Anthropology, Archeology, Art History, Communications, Development, Economics, Geography, History, International Relations, Linguistics, Politics, Religion, and Sociology.

Volume 2 Issue 2

  1. POUR, ALI BAHRANI 7
    https://doi.org/10.22679/AVS.2017.2.2.7 PDF
    The present study aims to do a documental study of the Mongol invasion and the fall of Baghdad (the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate) in 1258 CE. It is a case study on a document and two comments on it, which were originally recovered from the burial shroud of a person killed during $H{\ddot{u}}leg{\ddot{u}}^{\prime}s$ conquest of Baghdad. This document was later inserted by someone (possibly by one of its two commentators) in a section of a primary manuscript of Kitab al-Wara'a (written in 1147 CE). Then Osman ibn ${\dot{G}}{\bar{a}}nim$ al-Hiti and Ṭahir ibn '$Abd-All{\bar{a}}h$ ibn Ibrahim ibn Aḥmad, as commentators, wrote their comments about the document. Although these documents are in the form of fragmentary notes, they are rare primary sources that depict the events and the conditions of the siege, the conquest of Baghdad and the collapse of Abbasid Caliphate. This article, while providing images, revised texts, and translations of the documents, aims to introduce them and to explore the civil factors contributing to the fall of Baghdad.
  2. WANG, NING 29
    https://doi.org/10.22679/AVS.2017.2.2.29 PDF
    Chinese literature once had its splendid era in the Tang and Song Dynasties culminating in Tang poetry and influencing the literatures of its neighboring countries. However, during the past centuries, it has largely been "marginalized" on the map of world literature. On the one hand, large numbers of foreign literary works, especially those from Western countries, have been translated into Chinese, exerting a huge influence on the formation of a sort of modern Chinese literary tradition. On the other hand, few contemporary Chinese literary works have been translated into the major foreign languages. With the help of the rise and flourishing of comparative literature, contemporary Chinese literature has been moving toward the world and had its own Nobel laureate. The author, after analyzing the reasons why Chinese literature has been "marginalized," argues that Chinese literature will develop steadily in the age of globalization. Globalization in China has undergone three steps: first, it has made China passively involved in this irresistible trend; second, the country has then quickly adapted itself to this trend; and third, China has started to play an increasingly leading role in the first decade of the present century. In this way, contemporary Chinese literature and comparative literature studies will steadily develop with the help of the "Belt and Road" initiative.
  3. OZSUER, ESRA 47
    https://doi.org/10.22679/AVS.2017.2.2.47 PDF
    To the Greeks, the Ottoman era was a "Dark Age" one that comprised a threat to their Greek Orthodox identity. The identities of Orthodox and Hellene were integral parts in the construction of their national history. In fact, the Morea Uprising, which began in 1821, was symbolized by a priest blessing the Greek flag in Aya Lavra Church. One of the most common national myths is religious oppression of the Christian population during the Ottoman Era, namely Turkokratia. They identified Ottomans as Asian barbarians who did not let Greeks practice their religion freely, and who furthermore forced them to change their religion. These kinds of beliefs, which might be taken as religious propaganda, are today still highlighted both in Greek textbooks and in publications supported by the church and books and newspapers published in their affiliated institutes. The underlying truth behind all these propagandist statements is Islamophobia. The existence of Islamophobia in the Balkans, where religious nationalism is intense, has caused nations to hold to these kinds of mythical beliefs. Most of the time the stories and narratives have been used for history building. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the effect of the anti-Islam propaganda of the church in Greece on the state and the people using Greek sources. The references are Greek religious textbooks and books and newspapers published by church-supporting publishing houses.
  4. KHAN, M. ASHRAF;KHAN, SUNDUS ASLAM 69
    https://doi.org/10.22679/AVS.2017.2.2.69 PDF
    Since the beginning of the human world, man has tried to prove his presence on the earth. Wherever he moved, he left his marks in different forms. Whether he lived in caves, in open spaces or in-built structures, he left evidence in art form, the earliest of which are the cave paintings found in various regions of the world. These transformed into open spaces where man carved and painted images and writings on rock faces and boulders. Although Pakistan provided an early home to such art forms, they have been discovered in Kashmir for the first time and will be revealed in this paper. In the present survey, a great number of rock art sites were found and documented in detail. These rock art sites display the earliest communities who settled down or traveled through the region, highlighting their thoughts, beliefs and practices. The tentative chronology of these rock art sites ranges from Neolithic to Hindu periods, creating an interesting mosaic in the historic profile of Kashmir.
  5. OZDEMIR, IBRAHIM 89
    https://doi.org/10.22679/AVS.2017.2.2.89 PDF
    Today, we face many problems at the planetary, national, local, and personal level. What is interesting and important is the fact that the environmental crisis that we have been facing since the 1960s is seen by many environmentalists as a crisis of Western civilization, a slow collective suicide, and "the defining challenge of our age." This fact has encouraged many environmentalists, thinkers, and activists to turn to the wisdom of the East for a better and deeper understanding of nature and humanity for a sustainable future. Moreover, environmental, social, and economic threats are aimed at everyone without discrimination, be they Christian, Jew, Muslim, or Buddhist. Therefore, the very nature of the environmental crisis and challenge requires a cooperative, global response. In this context, this study suggests that Eastern societies may re-discover the richness of their own traditions in the light of pressing environmental problems and offer new insights to respond to these problems. This paper will explore the possibility and relevance of Sir Muhammad Iqbal's (1877-1938) ideas for an attitude of reverence and care for nature. It will suggest that his ideas could enlarge and enrich our perspective of ourselves vis $\grave{a}$ vis nature, and raise our "ecological consciousness" and moral responsibility to take action for the environment. It will be argued that Iqbal, as a great and towering son of the Silk Road and a bridge between East and West, is still relevant for us.
  6. ASADOV, FARDA 113
    https://doi.org/10.22679/AVS.2017.2.2.113 PDF
    Several theories about the ancestry of the Khazars and the origins of the Khazar state have been suggested to date. None of them provides a comprehensive solution for the controversial data of the written sources on the early history of the Khazars. This article investigates a possible link between the title of Kagan-Bek of the Deputy Kagan of the Khazars and a similar title Ellac/Ilek of the Akatsir-Huns. This study of the title argues for statehood and political culture connections between the earliest Turkic tribes of Western Eurasia and the Khazars and Turks of Central Asia.
  7. ERDEM, CAGRI 133
    https://doi.org/10.22679/AVS.2017.2.2.133 PDF
    The Bering Strait crossing would link the entirety of Eurasia to the entirety of the Americas, and it can be seen as a natural extension of the historical Silk Road. There are some immense geopolitical benefits to such a project. It would bring about a profound and lasting change to the global economic and political outlook. The most valued function of the Bering Strait crossing and the extension of the associated railroad network would be to release the massive natural resources trapped underneath the tundra and permafrost for the benefit of Russia and the world. Moreover, the railroad project(s) would also build development corridors in those underdeveloped parts of the Russian Federation. The development of the resources and their rapid transportation to the global markets would contribute not only to the overall development of the region but also would be valuable for the resource-poor countries of Northeast Asia such as Japan, Korea, and China (relative to its economic size). This paper will explore the possible impact(s) of the Bering Strait crossing as a formidable infrastructure project for the economic development of the Russian Far East (RFE) from the Russian perspective under the frame of geopolitics. Furthermore, it will equally scrutinize the implications for the adjacent countries in the region.