The Kingdom of Rob ( Bactrian: , ) was a small kingdom in Central Asia, in southern Bactria. It corresponds to the modern Rui in the Province of Samangan, modern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. Numerous documents in the Bactrian language in the

Bactrian script Bactrian (, , ) is an extinct Eastern Iranian language formerly spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria (in present-day Afghanistan) and used as the official language of the Kushan, and the Hephthalite empires. Name It was long thought tha ...

(a variation of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

script dating back to the rule of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom in the area) have been found from the archives of the Kingdom of Rob.

Terminology

Although

Frantz Grenet Frantz may refer to: * Frantz (given name), a masculine given name (and list of people with the given name) * Frantz (surname), a surname (and list of people with the surname) * Frantz (''Coppélia''), a character in ''Coppélia'' * ''Frantz'' (fi ...

uses the phrase "Kingdom of Rob",

Khodadad Rezakhani Khodadad Rezakhani ( Persian: خداداد رضاخانی, born 1976) is an Iranian historian of late antique Central and West Asia. He has been associate research scholar at The Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gul ...

points out that Bactrian documents never refer to the ruler of Rob as a king (''""'', related to the word

shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

), instead always using the term ', or "lord".

Nicholas Sims-Williams Nicholas Sims-Williams, FBA (born 11 April 1949, Chatham, Kent) is a British professor of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where he is the Research Professor of Iranian and Central Asian Studies at the Dep ...

uses the phrasing "''khar'' of Rob" and also "kingdom of Rob".

Geography

The area controlled by Rob included Madr (or Malr), Kah (modern Kahmard), and the unidentified locations of Rizm and Gandar. During the 7th century CE, it also controlled Samingan (modern

Haibak Aybak (Aibak or Haibak; previously Eukratidia ( grc, Εὐκρατιδία); historically known as Samangan) is a provincial town, medieval caravan stop, and the headquarters of the Samangan Province in the district of the same name in the north ...

). Khodadad Rezakhani considered the area of Warnu to be too far away from Rob to realistically be under its control. The kingdom of Rob was bordered by the regions of

Guzgan Guzgan ( fa, گوزگان, also known as Gozgan, Guzganan or Quzghan, in Arabic Juzjan or Juzjanan) was a historical region and early medieval principality in what is now northern Afghanistan. Etymology The area was known as "Guzgan" or in the ...

to the northwest"...documents from the kingdom of Guzgan or Juzjan in northern Afghanistan , which is northwest of the kingdom of Rob, source of most of the other known Bactrian documents..." in and Kadagistan to the east. To the south was the major city of Bamiyan, which only rarely is mentioned in documents from Rob, probably because of the large mountain range separating the two areas.

History

The

Alchon Huns The Alchon Huns, ( Bactrian: αλχον(ν)ο ''Alchon(n)o'') also known as the Alchono, Alxon, Alkhon, Alkhan, Alakhana and Walxon, were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4th and 6th centuries C ...

ruler

Mehama Mehama ( Bactrian: ''Meyam'', Brahmi: ''Me-ha-ma''), ruled c.461-493, was a king of Alchon Huns dynasty. He is little known, but the Talagan copper scroll mentions him as an active ruler making a donation to a Buddhist stupa in 492/93.For an imag ...

appears in a letter in the Bactrian language he wrote in 461-462 CE, when he declares himself a governor of the

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

Emperor

Peroz I Peroz I ( pal, 𐭯𐭩𐭫𐭥𐭰, Pērōz) was the Sasanian King of Kings () of Iran from 459 to 484. A son of Yazdegerd II (), he disputed the rule of his elder brother and incumbent king Hormizd III (), eventually seizing the throne after ...

. The letter comes from the archives of the Kingdom of Rob, located in southern Bactria. In this letter he presents himself as: In 484 CE Peroz was vanquished and killed by the

Hephthalites The Hephthalites ( xbc, ηβοδαλο, translit= Ebodalo), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during th ...

, and Bactria came under Hephthalite rule from that time. A contract in the Bactrian language from the archive of the kingdom of Rob, has been found, which mentions taxes from the

, requiring the sale of land in order to pay these taxes. It is dated to 483/484 CE. Two documents were also found, with dates from the period from 492 to 527. These documents mention taxes paid to the Hephthalite ruler. Another, undated documents, mentions: File:Contract in the Bactrian language from the archive of the kingdom of Rob.jpg, Contract in the Bactrian language from the archive of the kingdom of Rob, mentioning taxes from the

. 483/484 CE File:Bactrian language letter from Meyam, King of the people of Kadag, 461-462 CE.jpg, Bactrian language letter from "Meyam, King of the people of Kadag", "Meyam" is thought to be

. Dated to 461-462 CE, from the archives of the Kingdom of Rob. File:Samangan Province panorama (cropped).jpg, Samangan Province, former area of the Kingdom of Rob

References

{{reflist Former countries in Asia Historical regions