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Alopen
EntityQ597636· pop 17· linked from 173 articles

Alopen

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Alopen (, ; also "Aleben", "Aluoben", "Olopen," "Olopan," or "Olopuen") is the first recorded Christian missionary to have reached China, during the Tang dynasty. He was a missionary from the Church of the East, and probably a Syriac speaker from the Sasanian Empire or from Byzantine Syria. He is known exclusively from the Xi'an Stele, which describes his arrival in the Tang capital of Chang'an in 635 and his acceptance by Emperor Taizong of Tang. His is the earliest known name that can be attached to the history of the Church of the East in China.

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Key facts

Chinese.image
Alopen in the Xian Nestorian Stele.jpg
Chinese.caption
The name "Alopen" (阿羅本) in the Xi'an Stele.
Chinese.p
Āluóběn
Chinese.mc
alapuənX

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Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Gender
male
Citizenship
Tang dynasty
Place of birth
Syria
Occupation
translator
Religion
Nestorianism
Show 3 more facts
date of death
0700-01-01
date of birth
0600-00-00
described by source
Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
Sources (1)

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Encyclopedic overview

4 sections
Contents
  • History
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

Alopen (, ; also "Aleben", "Aluoben", "Olopen," "Olopan," or "Olopuen") is the first recorded Christian missionary to have reached China, during the Tang dynasty. He was a missionary from the Church of the East, and probably a Syriac speaker from the Sasanian Empire or from Byzantine Syria. He is known exclusively from the Xi'an Stele, which describes his arrival in the Tang capital of Chang'an in 635 and his acceptance by Emperor Taizong of Tang. His is the earliest known name that can be attached to the history of the Church of the East in China.

==History== thumb|right|Detail of the Xi'an Stele artifact, mentioning Alopen Alopen's name is known only from the Chinese of the Xi'an Stele. This may be a transliteration of the Semitic "Abraham" or aloho punoya, "the conversion of God." Amy Chua posits that his name could be a transcription of "Ruben", Alexis Balmont rather advocates for Ardaban.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Alopen” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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