Female Goddesses Along the Great Silk Road
Abstract
The article considers legendary and mythical female images from the regions situated along the Great Silk Road in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Over hundreds of years, female goddesses were of key importance in religious beliefs of Central Asian population, while female spiritual semantics represented by a pantheon of various divine and mythological images played a vital role in the development of spiritual culture of ethnoses living in Central Asia. This culture was handed down through generations, incorporated new traits and transformed itself, which resulted in creation of new images of revered saints and patrons. Using the example of evolving representations of female goddesses honored by the Turkic population of Central Asia, the article shows mutual influences of various ethnic cultures and religious cults (Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Islam); analyzes problems related to the origin and evolution of cults of goddesses focusing on those from the Zoroastrian pantheon and their subsequent syncretism. The author also addresses female divine images from the Tengrist pantheon and their centuries-long integration in the Islamic cult of honoring the saints; describes the role of the Great Silk Road along which the cultural exchange took place in the complex processes of merging female images of goddesses and protectrices during the period under consideration. The study of these issues will allow reevaluating the accomplishments of our ancestors, understanding the interaction mechanism of intercultural communication along with process of transformation of spiritual culture in the entire Eurasian space.