Second series of four illustrations out of seven series, as foretold. I like the woman with the file a lot.

Pride Pals 1-3

Panjikent is a Sogdian (An East Iranic ethnoculture extant between 500BCE-1000CE) archaeological site noted for its splendid murals, reception halls and general artistic profusion. As it was abandoned immediately after the Islamic conquests concluded in the 750s, the site preserves recordings of the dress, culture, ceremony and society of the Sogdians from the 6th century up to its abandonment.

The Sogdians were possibly the most active group along the trade network colloquially known as the silk road, and they are known to have travelled between Constantinople and Chang'an, establishing permanent neighbourhoods in the latter and colonies elsewhere in China and the Anxi Protectorate. They practiced a range of religions including Nestorian (Eastern) Christianity, Shaivism, Manicheanism, a local variant of Zoroastrianism, and veneration of the predominantly East Iranic goddess Nana, who was associated with the Mesopotamian Inanna/Ishtar figure. They also played a central role in translating and disseminating religious texts in the Buddhist and Nestorian traditions, although it seems unlikely that very many converted to the former.