The Sogdian cults and Zoroastrianism
The religious cults practiced by Central Asian nomadic tribes before the rise of the Sasanian Empire were varied, and some bore similarities to Zoroastrianism. Archaeological evidence from sites in Bactria, Magiana and Sogdia has revealed how the myths, gods and their representation as well as funerary rites in Central Asia evolved and spread from the Bronze Age until the arrival of Islam in the seventh century AD.