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Varkhuman
Varkhuman, also Vargoman (Chinese: 拂呼缦 ''Fúhūmàn'', c. 640-670 CE) was an Ikhshid (King) of Sogdia, residing in the city of Samarkand in the 7th century CE. He succeeded King Shishpin. He is known from the Afrasiab murals of Afrasiyab in Samarkand, where is seen being visited by embassies from numerous countries, including China. There is also an inscription in the murals directly mentioning him. His name is also known from Chinese histories. One of the murals show a Chinese Embassy carrying silk and a string of silkworm cocoons to the local Sogdian ruler. The scene depicted in the Afrasiyab murals probably occurred soon after 658 CE, when the Tang Dynasty had conquered the Western Turkic Khaganate. Varkhuman was a nominal vassal to the Chinese. He is mentioned in the Chinese annals: Varkhuman's legacy was short-lived, as his palace was destroyed by the Arab general Sa'id ibn Uthman between 675 and 677 CE. At that time, according to Narshakhi there was no king of Sama ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afrasiab Murals
The Afrasiab murals, also called the Paintings of the Ambassadors, is a rare example of Sogdian art. It was discovered in 1965 when the local authorities decided to construct a road in the middle of Afrāsiāb mound, the old site of pre-Mongol Samarkand. It is now preserved in a special museum on the Afrāsiāb mound. Description The paintings date back to the middle of the 7th century CE. They were probably painted between 648 and 651 CE, while the Western Turkic Khaganate, members are well represented in the mural, was in decline and the Tang Dynasty was increasing its territory in Central Asia. Paintings on four walls of the room of a private house at the site depict three or four lands neighbouring Central Asia: On the northern wall, China (a Chinese festival, with the Empress on a boat, and the Emperor hunting); on the Southern Wall, Samarkand (i.e.; the Iranian world: a religious funerary procession in honor of the ancestors during the Nowruz festival); on the eastern wall I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afrasiyab (Samarkand)
Afrasiyab ( uz, Afrosiyob),( fa, ''afrāsiyāb'') is an ancient site of Northern Samarkand, present day Uzbekistan, that was occupied from c. 500 BC to 1220 AD prior to the Mongol invasion in the 13th century.Archaeological Research in Central Asia of the Muslim Period', World Archaeology Vol. 14, No. 3, Islamic Archaeology (Feb., 1983), pp. 393-405 (13 pages) The oldest layers date from the middle of the first millennium BC. Today, it is a hilly grass mound located near the Bibi Khanaum Mosque. Excavations uncovered the now famous Afrasiab frescoes exposed in the Afrasiab Museum of Samarkand, located next to the archaeological site. Overview Afrasiyab is the oldest part and the ruined site of the ancient and medieval city of Samarkand. It was located on high ground for defensive reasons, south of a river valley and north of a large fertile area which has now become part of the city of Samarkand. The habitation of the territories of Afrasiyab began in the 7th-6th century BC, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sogdia
Sogdia (Sogdian language, Sogdian: ) or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid Empire, and listed on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great. Sogdiana was first conquered by Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, and then was annexed by the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great in 328 BC. It would continue to change hands under the Seleucid Empire, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, the Kushan Empire, the Sasanian Empire, the Hephthalite Empire, the Western Turkic Khaganate and the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. The Sogdian city-states, although never politically united, were centered on the city of Samarkand. Sogdian language, Sogdian, an Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian language, is no longer spoken, but a descendant of one of its dialects, Yaghnobi language, Ya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tashkent
Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2,909,500 (2022). It is in northeastern Uzbekistan, near the border with Kazakhstan. Tashkent comes from the Turkic ''tash'' and ''kent'', literally translated as "Stone City" or "City of Stones". Before Islamic influence started in the mid-8th century AD, Tashkent was influenced by the Sogdian and Turkic cultures. After Genghis Khan destroyed it in 1219, it was rebuilt and profited from the Silk Road. From the 18th to the 19th century, the city became an independent city-state, before being re-conquered by the Khanate of Kokand. In 1865, Tashkent fell to the Russian Empire; it became the capital of Russian Turkestan. In Soviet times, it witnessed major growth and demographic changes due to forced deportations from throughout the Sov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaganian
Chaghaniyan (Middle Persian: ''Chagīnīgān''; fa, چغانیان ''Chaghāniyān''), known as al-Saghaniyan in Arabic sources, was a medieval region and principality located on the right bank of the Oxus River, to the south of Samarkand. History Hephthalite rule Chaganian was an "Hephthalite buffer principality" located between Denov and Termez, and became a sanctuary for the Hephthalites following their defeat against the Sasanian Empire and the First Turkic Khaganate in 563-567 CE. They resettled in Chaganian and other territories of Tokharistan, under their new king Faganish, who established a dynasty. Soon, the new Hephthalite territories north of the Oxus, to which Chaganian belonged, fell under Western Turk suzerainty, while the territories south of the Oxus were nominally controlled by the Sasanian Empire. The territories under the Turks rebelled in 581 CE. Their coinage in Chaganian was an imitation of the Sasanian coins of Khusrau I, with sometimes the addition of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samarkand
fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, Sher-Dor Madrasah in Registan, Timur's Mausoleum Gur-e-Amir. , image_alt = , image_flag = , flag_alt = , image_seal = Emblem of Samarkand.svg , seal_alt = , image_shield = , shield_alt = , etymology = , nickname = , motto = , image_map = , map_alt = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Uzbekistan#West Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_mapsize = 300 , pushpin_map_caption = Location in Uzbekistan , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Historians generally regard the Tang as a high point in Chinese civilization, and a Golden age (metaphor), golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Tang territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, rivaled that of the Han dynasty. The House of Li, Lǐ family () founded the dynasty, seizing power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire and inaugurating a period of progress and stability in the first half of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty was formally interrupted during 690–705 when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, proclaiming the Zhou dynasty (690–705), Wu Zhou dynasty and becoming the only legitimate Chinese empress regnant. The devast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ikhshid
''Ikhshid'' ( sog, xšyδ, ) was the princely title of the Iranian rulers of Soghdia and the Ferghana Valley in Transoxiana during the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods. The title is of Iranian origin; scholars have derived it variously from the Old Iranian root ''khshaeta'', "shining, brilliant", or from ''khshāyathiya'', "ruler, king" (which is also the origin of the title ''shah''). The Ikhshids of Sogdia, with their capital at Samarkand, are well attested during and after the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. The line survived into Abbasid times, although by then its seat was in Istikhan. Among the most notable and energetic of the Soghdian kings was Gurak, who in 710 overthrew his predecessor Tarkhun and for almost thirty years, through shifting alliances, managed to preserve a precarious autonomy between the expanding Umayyad Caliphate and the Türgesh khaganate. The Arab authors report that the title was also used by the ruler of the Principality of Farghana during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sa'id Ibn Uthman
Saʿīd ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān () (died ) was an Umayyad general and military governor of Khurasan in 676–677 during the reign of Caliph Mu'awiya I. He was a son of Caliph Uthman () and a one-time seeker of the caliphate in 675/76. During his short term in Khurasan, he launched a campaign deep into Transoxiana and defeated one or two Soghdian armies. He reportedly captured Bukhara and besieged Samarkand, gaining tributary status from the latter, before proceeding to capture Tirmidh. He was dismissed by Mu'awiya, possibly due to concerns that his popularity and battlefield successes had strengthened Sa'id's previous bid to seek the caliphate instead of Mu'awiya's designated successor, Yazid I. He was killed in Medina by his noble Soghdian slaves. Life Sa'id was a son of Caliph Uthman () and the latter's wife Fatima bint al-Walid, a scion of the prominent Banu Makhzum clan of the Quraysh. Caliph Mu'awiya I () had partly based his claim to the caliphate on his pursuit of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afrasiab Sogdian Inscription
Afrasiab ( fa, ''afrāsiyāb''; ae, Fraŋrasyan; Middle-Persian: ''Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk'') is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi. The mythical king and hero According to the ''Shahnameh'' (''Book of Kings''), by the Persian epic poet Ferdowsi, Afrasiab was the king and hero of Turan and an archenemy of Iran. In Iranian mythology, Afrasiab is considered by far the most prominent of all Turanian kings; he is a formidable warrior, a skilful general, and an agent of Ahriman, who is endowed with magical powers of deception to destroy Iranian civilization.Yarshater, E., "Afrasiab", ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' - digital library; accessed January 18, 2007. He is brother to Garsivaz, and the son of Pashang. According to Islamic sources, Afrasiab was a descendant of Tūr (Avestan: ''Tūriya-''), one of the three sons of the Iranian mythical King Fereydun (the other two sons being Salm and Iraj) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narshakhi
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Jafar Narshakhi (or Narshaki) (ca. 899–959), a Sogdian scholar from the village of Narshak in the Bukhara oasis is the first known historian in Central Asia. His unique ''History of Bukhara'' (''Tarikh-i Bukhara'') was written in Arabic and presented to the Samanid emperor Nuh I either in 943 or 944. The book provides important information on Bukhara that cannot be found in other contemporary sources. Nothing is known about Narshakhi except his authorship of this one book. Biography Narshakhi was a Sogdian. Even though the Sogdian language had been mostly supplanted by Persian language in densely populated places of Sogdia in his day, it is likely that Narshakhi still spoke Sogdian very well. His ''History of Bukhara (Tarikh-i Bukhara)'' was composed for a patron who supported Sunni Islam against Isma'ilism. Through Da'i missionaries engaged in the da'wah the Isma'ili sect of Shi'ism had spread and was regarded as a threat by the Sunni. It was written in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land, the most of any country in the world, tied with Russia. Covering an area of approximately , it is the world's third largest country by total land area. The country consists of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The national capital is Beijing, and the most populous city and financial center is Shanghai. Modern Chinese trace their origins to a cradle of civilization in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. The semi-legendary Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE and the well-attested Shang and Zhou dynasties developed a bureaucratic political system to serve hereditary monarchies, or dyna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
