In the early spring of 329 BC. army Alexander the Great, chasing the fugitive Bessa, passing Hindu Kush, stepped on the ground Bactria. This satrapy met the king very unfriendly, the residents hid all the food, and the soldiers, in order to somehow feed themselves, had to slaughter pack animals, but nothing could stop the stubborn king and the army began to move deeper into the country. The first Bactrian cities have already been conquered Aorn And Bactras, on the path of the Macedonian lies a waterless desert, which the army passes in five days. Pursuing the enemy, the troops go to the river Oks(Amu Darya).
Wide and the deep, fast-flowing river seemed an almost insurmountable obstacle. Since all the ships were burned by order of the departing Bessa, Alexander ordered his men to fill bags of animal skins with grass and use them for crossing. Today, thanks to the research of historians, under the leadership of Academician of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences E. Rtveladze, we know for sure that this historical event took place thirty kilometers to the west Termez a to a village called Chushka-Guzar and borrowed from the army Alexandra a few days.
But after forcing Oksa pursuing the enemy loses all meaning, since Alexandru messengers arrived - representatives of the local nobility, Sogdian Spitamen and Bactrian Datafern who offered to issue Bessa. Once a satrap, now declaring himself king Persia- Bess, was kept in custody by his former comrades in a small town in the region Nautaka(fortification Uzunkyr close to modern Kitaba). They hoped that the Macedonian would leave the country, having received a hated traitor, but Alexander's troops turned to the side Maracanda.
In the rebellious city, the emperor seriously counted on help Spitamena, but he himself called the people Sogdiana to weapons and if earlier the Sogdians looked at Macedonian, as a liberator from the Persian yoke, now he was just another invader for them. Despite the fact that the uprising was supported by the Bactrians and Saka nomads, Alexander managed to suppress the unrest and brutally deal with disobedience, literally wiping several large cities of the rebels from the face of the earth.
Having finished with the rebels, the Macedonian army moved towards Yaxarthu(Syrdarya) and here in a very convenient place Alexander decides to set up his own outpost with a loud name Alexandria - Eskhata.
The city was built in the shortest possible time, in just 20 days, and was surrounded by a high fortress wall. Population Alexandria consisted of soldiers of the Macedonian army unfit for service, and the local population who wished to stay. However, the tribes of the Scythians across the river saw in the built city a potential threat to their independence and Alexander literally torn, trying to improve relations with the nomads and suppress the newly flared uprising in Maracanda.
Relatively calm winter of 328-328 Macedonian spent on the territory Bactria V Zariaspe, and with the arrival of spring appeared again Spitamen and the riots began. Those who came to Sogdiana The Macedonian troops did not know pity; many lands simply died out after the massacre. Fearing the continuation of the guerrilla war, Alexander founded on the territory Sogd 8 fortified fortress cities to have the necessary shelters from the rebels for yourself and your army.
In the winter of 328, the king received a luxurious gift. The Massagetae, who had gone over to his side, killed the man hiding among them. Spitamena, and the head was presented Alexandru(according to another version, the wife did all this Spitamena, tired of endless wanderings). It would seem that there would finally be a calm in the country, but the spring, which promised to be calm, brought yet another riot.
This time, the instigators of the unrest were Sogdian aristocrats, who were extremely negatively disposed towards the emperor. Seated in their impregnable mountain castles, they constantly sowed confusion among the population. The Greeks called these castles petras (rocks).
Alexander was waiting for a new campaign, and the first to stand in his way was “ rock» one of the Sogdian nobles - Sisimitra. According to E. Rtveladze, this happened at the border Bactria And Sogdiana in the gorge Dara-i-Buzgala on the river Shurob-sai.
It was early spring and there was deep snow on the slopes. Family of a Sogdian nobleman Oxyartha, together with the warriors, took refuge in a high-mountain ancestral castle on top of inaccessible rocks. Alexander surrounded the fortress, but seeing the hopelessness of his enterprise, he invited the besieged to surrender, to which he listened to a series of ridicule, which overflowed his patience. Having summoned 300 warriors skilled in rock climbing, he promised them an incredible reward, and the soldiers did not disappoint. As soon as dawn broke, those holed up in the fortress saw not far above them an impressive detachment of Macedonians preparing for an attack. The besieged were amazed and surrendered to the mercy of the winner.
When the young king at the head of the army He walked up a narrow path to the conquered fortress, and prisoners were taken out into the courtyard. The door of the defeated prince's chambers slowly opened and a short girl stepped into the light-filled courtyard. Hair the color of ripe wheat and big shining eyes - that's all I saw Alexander, but one glance was enough to understand that the young woman was incredibly pretty. Roxanne, and that was the name of the captive, she was instantly offered to become his wife.
The wedding ceremony was simple: they cut the bread with a sharp sword and gave a piece each to the bride and groom (this is where the Uzbek custom of breaking a flatbread on the day of engagement began), but the wedding itself became very pompous. If only ten thousand had followed the king’s example on that day. Alexander's warriors. And if earlier these local detachments, recruited into the Macedonian army, acted as independent units, then after such a significant event they became equal units Alexander's troops, and their leaders, such as brother Roxanne and the sons of the sotraps, and completely became its elite.
Alexander systematically implemented his plan. After all, he understood that he could not hold the conquered lands only by force of arms, so he carefully mixed tribes and nationalities in order to ultimately create a single eastern nation - the basis of his kingdom.
The father of his betrothed - Oxyartha Alexander received with great honor and respect. Not only were his family estates returned to him, consisting of lands from the southeastern foothills Gissar a to the upper reaches Surkhandarya, but also new ones were presented. Now he became the satrap of a vast territory, including parts Northern And Southern Bactria to the pass Hindu Kush.
But even the wedding could not tear the Macedonian away from the war for long. It was necessary to restore order in the remaining mountain castles.
The second fortified citadel that stood in Alexander’s way was “ Horient Rock" Surrounded on all sides by a deep abyss, this ancestral nest of the local satrap was completely inaccessible. But that didn't stop Macedonian. Having ordered to cut down the centuries-old spruce trees growing on the slopes and make floorings, Alexander step by step he approached the rebel fortress, but the troublemakers did not give up, and only when numerous arrows of the enemy reached the shelter, Horien agreed to negotiate...
In 327 BC. The Central Asian campaign of the great commander was over. His opinion about the peoples who inhabited this region changed dramatically. Coming here just three years ago, Alexander counted on an easy victory over the aborigines, but instead he met fierce resistance and a willingness to continue the fight for his independence. And the locals too" barbarians"turned out to be people of high culture, art and craft, to imitate, in the words of Alexandra, it was not at all embarrassing.
In the summer of the same year, leaving Sogdians And Bactria large military garrisons Alexander's army crossed over again Hindu Kush and left lands of Central Asia.
A new campaign of the ambitious Macedonian began, now his path lay in India…
In 323, in the thirty-third year of his life, the emperor died of an unknown illness in Babylon, after an unsuccessful Indian campaign. Roxana remained with her husband until the end and a few days after his death gave birth to a son. And even though evil tongues claimed that Alexander was poisoned by his wife out of jealousy towards his friend, who also died suddenly, this has not been proven and is not known for certain.
And it is known that Roxana was well received by her mother Alexandra, and her minor son was even on the throne for a time Macedonia. However Alexander's mother - Olympics, unfortunately, was not a wise woman and managed to turn the Macedonians against herself and her family. In 317 BC. their rule was overthrown, and in 311 Roxana and her son Alexander IV those under arrest in the fortress were killed...
Thus the race was cut short Temeidov, who managed Macedonia from ancient times. A huge empire founded Alexander the Great, broke up. The largest states were Egypt, with the ruling dynasty Ptolemaic, Syria, under dynasty control Seleucid, which included lands Persian kingdom And Macedonia, which retained its power over Greece, where he became the founder of the royal family Antigonus Gorath. All newly-minted rulers left the cohort Alexander the Great, where they were his beloved friends and associates.
A new era has begun - Hellenism, who proclaimed Greek dominance in the Middle East, which led to the intertwining of Western and Eastern civilizations.
Sogd (Sogdiana) - territorial entity and state in Central Asia, first mentioned in the sacred Avesta. Geographically, Sogd developed as an area between the Oxus and Yaxartes rivers (Amu Darya and Syr Darya). The territory of Sogdiana was located north of Bactria, uniting significant parts of present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The capital and most significant city of Sogd was Marakand (Samarkand).
Historical information about ancient Sogd, as is usually the case, is associated with various conquests. In the Achaemenid Empire, Suguda-Sogdiana was a province that took nineteenth place in the list of Darius the Great on the Behistun rock. In 329-327, Sogd put up desperate but futile resistance to Alexander the Great, and after the defeat it was united with Bactria into one satrapy. Soon these lands were conquered by the Seleucids, and then became part of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. At the beginning of the era, Sogd entered the Kushan kingdom, then was successively conquered by the Hephthalites, the Turkic Khaganate. From time to time, Sogd is mentioned in Chinese chronicles - in connection with the raids of the Sogdians and Chinese on each other.
In ancient times, the territory of Sogd was a community of city-states and small estates; the economy and culture of the region was determined by the movement of many traders, travelers, and wanderers along the caravan routes of the Great Silk Road, of which Samarkand was an important node. At the beginning of the 8th century, stubbornly resisting Sogdiana was conquered by the Arabs, who called these lands Transoxiana. In toponymy, the name Sogd Samarkand is preserved - this is the name of the valley of the Zeravshan River.
Few monuments of architecture and fine art have survived from ancient Sogd.- the layers of conquerors erased traces of the past, but the surviving monuments show that the culture of Sogdiana was influenced by various artistic movements and traditions, transforming them and forming its own style. However, only isolated artifacts have survived to this day, which do not allow us to create a complete picture of this style.
A total survey, during which more than two hundred archaeological sites were recorded and, for the most part, chronologically determined, led to an interesting observation. In Miankal itself, densely filled with monuments of the early and partly developed Middle Ages, with the exception of the mentioned Kumyshkent Tepe, no objects of ancient times were found. To the north of Akdarya there was a group of monuments with the remains of buildings and characteristic ceramic material of the first centuries before and after the beginning of the century. uh...
Clearing showed that the external fences of Kurgan Tepe were built from broken clay - pakhsa. The walls of the citadel were also Pakhsov, reaching 18 m; in ancient times, of course, they were even higher. In the early medieval period (VI-VIII centuries), city fences had already lost their defensive significance and residential buildings were approaching them. In the citadel, in ancient times and even in the early Middle Ages, the wall was reinforced by building up external “cases” of pakhsa and adobe - its total thickness reached more than 6 m at the top, and at the bottom, taking into account the bevel of the masonry and the projection of the proteichism, it was twice as thick...
In the first mound there were three burials of different times, located at different levels and without any planning relationship. The second mound also contained iron weapons - triangular stalked arrowheads, a long sword, the crosshair of which was decorated with a magnificent lining of light green jade, fragments of a dagger, knives, two buckles, bone linings of a compound bow...
A stormy scene of a battle between four pairs of mounted and dismounted knights is depicted, with the group on the left clearly defeating their rivals on the right. The combatants are placed in pairs in four spatial planes. All participants are of the same ethnic type and wear the same military armor, varying only in details. Their faces, shown in profile, are characterized by a large nose with a hump, small diamond-shaped eyes, a drooping mustache, an energetic chin, and in four it has a small pointed beard, and in four others the beard is claw-elongated, curved upward...
Its participants are distributed in three parallel rows, and so on. that the illusion of three spatial plans arises, although there are no promising reductions here. The action takes place against the backdrop of mountains, which are indicated in two plans by conventional peaks, on which there are trees, also very conventionally interpreted in the form of semi-ovals on the rod. Riders rush on horses spread out in a flying gallop, whose legs are thrown horizontally forward and backward. They sit in their saddles quite close to the withers, forcefully pulling their bows, the arrows of which have just been lowered into the pursued animals, the riders’ legs are steeply bent at the knees and, squeezing the horse’s sides, are pulled back with their toes extended, like a ballerina’s (this position of the legs is excellent from that of the fighting equestrian knights)...
History and art monuments of Sogd
These drawings indicate a mature artistic direction. The stylistic feature of the images here is the dynamics of the action - a stormy fight in a battle or duel, the frantic jump of hunters and the flight of rushing animals, complex turns of horses in the upper group of fighters on the large plate and camels on the small one. Also characteristic is the absence of landscape or a minimum of visual means in its rendering - in the hunting scene, nature is given as if in a hint. At the same time, with a smooth background, in the absence of perspective, one is struck by the skill of conveying space with a multi-plane arrangement of figures (battle, camels) or vertical distribution of plans (hunting)...
In the sacred book of the Zoroastrians “Avesta” it is said about this wonderful country: “I, Ahura Mazda, created the incomparable Sogdiana, rich in gardens,” where “high mountains abound with pastures and water, giving abundant food to livestock, where there are deep lakes with vast expanses of water and navigable rivers with wide channels."
Sogdiana is an ancient historical region located on the territory of modern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. It was here in 742 BC. e. The city of Marakanda (Samarkand) was founded.
Freedom of religion
The vast majority of Sogdians professed Zoroastrianism. This is evidenced by the statues of the Zoroastrian goddess of water and fertility Anahita found during excavations, numerous ossuaries - vessels for storing the remains of fire worshipers, as well as paintings on the walls depicting chariots - it was the chariot that the Sun god rode.
In the first centuries of our era, other teachings appeared in Sogd - Buddhism and Christianity, which peacefully coexisted with Zoroastrianism. But with the coming of the Arabs, freedom of religion was over.
Skilled Craftsmen
Agriculture flourished in Sogdiana, the success of which was due to artificial irrigation of the land. Irrigation structures in this country were not inferior to Roman aqueducts. Lead-lined water pipes were built in cities. The water pipelines were guarded by special guards around the clock.
The inhabitants of Sogd also succeeded in animal husbandry (especially horse breeding), produced wool, silk and cotton fabrics, were engaged in pottery, and the manufacture of colored glass and paper products. Sogdiana was also famous for its writing, culture, arts and literature.
Silk Road Star
The famous Silk Road passed through the cities of Sogdiana, and therefore it is not surprising that the inhabitants of the “land of gardens” were known as noble traders. Newborn boys had their tongues smeared with stone honey (it is collected by wild bees, deposited in the crevices of stone cliffs), and their palms with glue so that their speeches would be sweet and money would stick to their hands.
From childhood, children were taught various sciences. When the young man turned twenty, he went to trade on his own. The biggest fairs were in Sogd. Every year merchants from different countries came there.
Wealth
The paintings, painted by skilled Sogdian artists during the country's heyday, depicted noble persons in luxurious clothes, hung with gold and jewelry. The Arabs admired the wealth of Sogdiana and set out to take possession of it.
One of the participants in the campaign, Kuteiby, wrote about Samarkand: “In its greenery, it is like the sky, and its palaces are like stars in the sky, and its river is a mirror for the open spaces, and its wall is the sun for the horizons.”
The struggle turned out to be long. In 612, the Arabs reached Sogdiana, but were able to take it only in 712. The Sogdian king Divashtich refused to submit to the enemy and took refuge in a castle on the mountain. Meanwhile, the Arabs destroyed Sogdian palaces and temples, smashed statues, and destroyed manuscripts and paintings. Divastich was crucified. Islam became the state religion of Sogdiana, and Arabic graphics replaced Sogdian writing.
Source: https://weekend.rambler.ru
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Co-ruler of Seleucus in the East was his son Antiochus, half Sogdian (his mother Apana was the daughter of Spitamenes).
Ancient Maracanda, devastated during wars and uprisings, began to recover under the Seleucids. There is no direct information about the state of the city of that era in historical sources. However, it is known that a certain rise was observed in the economic life of Sogda, Bactria, and Margiana. New cities were built, old ones were strengthened, crafts and trade developed, coins were regularly minted, and the irrigation network expanded.
Speaking of the densely populated fertile oasis irrigated by the waters of Zarafshan, which the Greek authors called Polytimetus, it can be argued that artificial irrigation was increasingly expanding in the ancient era. Samarkand archaeologist V.V. Grigoriev, exploring the settlement of Tali-Barzu, located near Samarkand, established that already in the 2nd-1st centuries BC artificial irrigation was widely developed here.
The peasants of Marakanda and the entire Zarafshan Valley in those days grew wheat, rice, millet, alfalfa, cotton, and planted gardens and vineyards. Sources say that in Fergana and in the “neighboring countries” (i.e. in Sogd and Bactria) the population drank wine. “They love their wine as their horses love alfalfa.” The rich aged their wine in cellars for several decades.
The inhabitants of Sogdiana, along with agriculture, were also engaged in cattle breeding. This is evidenced by archaeological finds of bones of domestic animals, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and pigs. Horse breeding was especially widely developed. Horses of pure blood from Sogdiana were known from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. 
In ancient times, there was lively trade between East and West through Central Asia. The famous "Silk Road" crossed the Asian continent through the Sogdian cities. Samarkand was located at the main crossroads of the most important caravan routes from India, Byzantium, China, Tibet, Iran, Siberia, and Scythia.
The peoples of Sogdiana, maintaining close economic relations with the West and East, North and South, enriched their culture and at the same time had a strong influence on the development of neighboring countries. It has been proven that, for example, the Chinese borrowed alfalfa, grapes, pomegranates, walnuts, and many garden plants from the peoples of Central Asia. China adopted cotton culture from the Amu Darya, Zarafshan and Syr Darya valleys. From the Fergana Valley the same Chinese exported horses, which they called “heavenly” for their beauty, tirelessness, and agility. The inhabitants of Sogdiana, in turn, borrowed sericulture, paper production, the art of making gold and silver jewelry, and weapons making from the East.
In the last centuries BC, during the struggle of the Sogdians against foreigners, frequent changes in the map of Central Asia occurred, large state formations formed and disintegrated, such as the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and a number of others. 
In the 1st century AD, Sogdiana and Bactria became part of a powerful slave state, known in history as the power of the Great Kushans. The Kushan period (I-IV centuries AD) was a period of significant growth for Central Asia. At this time, city life here revives, trade ties between Sogdian cities, including Samarkand, and China and India intensify. From East Asia you imported silk, jade, iron, nickel, lacquer and leather goods, and from Central Asia you brought glass, precious stones, and jewelry. Spices, incense, paper and woolen fabrics were brought from India to replace glassware and other Central Asian goods.
In the middle of the 5th century, the Kushan Empire, which experienced a deep decline in the 3rd and 4th centuries, fell under the onslaught of warlike nomadic tribes, collectively known as the Hephthalites. In turn, in the 4th century the Hephthalites were swept away by Turkic tribes, who formed the Turkic Khaganate.
Despite the change of kingdoms and dynasties, Samarkand continued to play an important role in the economic, political and cultural life of Central Asia and the entire East.
Sogdians were known as skilled farmers and artisans, enterprising merchants, talented musicians and dancers. The crafts of their cities continued to be famous. Samarkand residents minted their own coins, conducted lively trade with many countries, and had their own written language and literature. And it is not without reason that the famous orientalist V.V. Bartold, speaking about the Sogdians, emphasized that their cultural activity along the caravan routes of Central Asia is not much inferior to the cultural activity of the Phoenicians along the Mediterranean trade routes. Indeed, it is difficult to overestimate the role of the Sogdians in those days. They actually controlled trade along the entire eastern section of the Silk Road, stretching from Merv to the Huang He River. Along the entire length of the ancient trade route, they founded their colonies, established business and economic contacts with local merchants and the population, and widely traded their goods.
Overcoming great obstacles created by the kings of Iran, Sogdian merchants penetrated further and further to the West. In the middle of the 6th century, they twice tried to establish good relations with the central regions of Iran. The first embassy from Sogdiana, headed by Maniakh, was received extremely unkindly at the court of the Sasanian king: the Persians demonstratively burned the silks brought by Sogdian merchants in front of the ambassadors. The Sogdians sent a new caravan. But this attempt ended tragically: the king of Iran ordered the poisoning of the ambassadors of Sogd.
The cruel actions of the Iranian rulers could not shake the enterprise and perseverance of the Sogdian merchants. As the Byzantine historian Menander testifies, the envoys of Sogd took advantage of the ancient steppe routes that bypassed Iran along the northern shore of the Caspian Sea and established direct contact with Byzantium.
The Sogdian embassy arrived in Constantinople. It was headed by the same Maniakh. The Byzantine emperor, in turn, sent his envoy to Central Asia in 568.
In this way, the Sogdians managed to establish strong trade, diplomatic and cultural ties with Byzantium, which lasted for many years.
The measure of the high and original culture of the Sogdians is their writing. They usually wrote from right to left, often the lines were arranged vertically. Back then they wrote in black ink on leather, sticks, tablets, clay shards, and less often on paper.
The earliest Sogdian texts known to science are the so-called “Old Letters”, found by A. Stein’s expedition in 1906-1908. in the ruins of a watchtower west of Dunhuang. These documents date back to the beginning of the 4th century AD. As the research of the French Iranian scholar R. Gauthio has shown, they are written in the Sogdian language and represent private correspondence.
Two letters dictated to the scribe by the Sogdian Mevancha (“Kitty” or “Tiger Cub”) addressed to her mother, who lived in Samarkand, report on the anxious days that the Sogdians then experienced in the trading colonies of Eastern Turkestan in connection with the onslaught of the Huns; about trade affairs; about the private life of the letter writer. So, for example, a girl complains about her sad fate - her guardian Nanidat wants to marry her, but she does not agree: “I would rather be the wife of a dog or a pig than the wife of Nanidat,” Mevancha writes to her mother in Samarkand. But a few years later everything changed. From another letter we learn that the girl became Nanidat’s wife, that she is happily married and tenderly cares for her beloved husband.
"Old letters" were not delivered to Samarkand addressees. For almost 1600 years they lay in the ruins of the tower until they were discovered by archaeologists at the beginning of this century.
And finally, Sogdiana herself spoke. In the spring of 1965, under the loess strata of the Afrasiab hills in one of the excavated rooms, archaeologists discovered inscriptions that had remained silent for many centuries. A preliminary analysis of the text of the Afrasiab find led to the conclusion that the inscription contains a message about the arrival of an embassy from Chaganian, a region then located in the area of present-day Termez, to the Samarkand king. This embassy was headed, judging by the inscription, by the head of the chancellery, a certain Bur-Zatak. The text consists of 16 lines and has been preserved almost entirely. Only at the end four words are spoiled. The inscription, as researchers suggest, was made by a professional scribe and its language is very close to the colloquial speech of the late 7th - early 8th centuries.
The inscription deciphered by V. A. Lifshits reads:
"When the ambassador of the Xiongnu king arrived, he opened his mouth (and said): “I, the Chaganian chief of the chancellery, named Bur-Zatak (son of Bur), arrived from the Chaganian state of Turantash to Samarkand with an expression of respect to the Samarkand king. And here I am before the (Samarkand) king, full of respect. And you have absolutely no suspicions about me - I am well aware of the Samarkand gods and Samarkand writing and I am full of respect (?) for the power of (your) king, and you will be in complete well-being. And also the Xiongnu king..." (at this point the text is destroyed). So said the Chaganian head of the chancellery"
In addition to the Samarkand king, whose name is not indicated in the inscription, the “Hunnic king” is also mentioned, and from the text it follows that he was a major ruler - his kingdom should have included Chaganian, where the embassy came from. It can be assumed that the “Hunnic king” should be understood as the ruler of the Hephthalites, who sometimes appears in written sources under the name of the king of Tokharistan. The reservation regarding the Samarkand religion (“gods”) and writing is very interesting - the ambassador wants to assure the residents of Samarkand that he does not think of encroaching on their faith or writing.
In addition to these sixteen lines of Sogdian text, up to ten more inscriptions were discovered on Afrasiab.
Are Afrasiab painting and Sogdian inscriptions a reflection of a real historical event? Or is this just a legend? So far, it is impossible to give an exact answer to this question. Researchers believe that the names of the characters in the 16-line Sogdian inscription speak of an official event in the history of Sogd.
The high art of Samarkand of that time is evidenced by the artistic merits of the wall paintings of Afrasiab, which took their rightful place in the history of world art.
New archaeological finds prove that Samarkand was one of the brilliant centers of the Middle Ages before the Arab conquest. No wonder the Arabs, who had previously seen Mesopotamia and Iran, admired the fertility and abundance of Sogd, calling it the “Garden of the Victorious Caliph.” And about the capital of Sogd - Samarkand, one of the participants in Kuteiba’s campaign wrote:
“Truly, in its greenery it is like the sky, and its palaces are like stars in the heavens, and its river is a mirror for the open spaces, and its wall is the sun for the horizons!”
This is how the Arab hordes of Kuteiba found Sogd and its flourishing center Samarkand.
Ancient SogdianaSeleucus's co-ruler in the East was his son Antiochus, half Sogdian (his mother Apana was the daughter of Spitamenes). The ancient country, devastated during war and uprisings, began to recover under the Seleucids. Historical sources do not contain direct reports about the state of Maracanda at that time. However, it is known that a certain rise was observed in the economic life of Sogd, Bactria, and Margiana. New cities were built, old ones were strengthened, crafts and trade developed, coins were minted, and the irrigation network expanded.
Speaking about the densely populated fertile oasis irrigated by the waters of Zarafshan, which the Greek authors called Polytimetus, it can be argued that artificial irrigation was increasingly expanding in the ancient era. Samarkand archaeologist G.V. Grigoriev, exploring the settlement of Talibarzu, located near Samarkand, established that already in the 1st - 1st centuries BC, artificial irrigation was widely developed here. The peasants of Marakanda and the Zarafshan Valley in those days grew wheat, rice, millet, alfalfa, cotton, and planted gardens and vineyards. Sources say that in Fergana and in the “neighboring countries” (i.e. in Sogd and Bactria) the inhabitants made wine. “They love their wine as their horses love alfalfa.” Rich landowners aged wine in cellars for several decades.
The inhabitants of Sogdiana, along with agriculture, also engaged in cattle breeding. This is evidenced by archaeological finds of bones of domestic animals, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and pigs. Horse breeding was especially widely developed. Horses of pure blood from Sogdiana were known from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. In ancient times, the country conducted brisk trade with the East and West. The famous “Silk Road” passed through Sogdian cities, crossing the Asian continent. Marakanda (Samarkand) was located at the main crossroads of the most important caravan routes from India, Byzantium, China, Tibet, Iran, Siberia, and Scythia. The peoples of Sogdiana borrowed a lot from the countries of the West and East and at the same time had a strong influence on neighboring countries. It has been proven that, for example, the Chinese borrowed alfalfa, grapes, pomegranates, walnuts, and many garden plants from the peoples of Central Asia; China adopted cotton crops from the valleys of the Amu Darya, Zarafshan and Syr Darya. From the Fergana Valley, the same Chinese exported horses, which they called “heavenly” for their beauty, tirelessness, and agility. The inhabitants of Sogdiana, in turn, borrowed sericulture, paper production, the art of making gold and silver jewelry, and weapons making from the East. In the last centuries BC, during the struggle of the Sogdians against foreigners, frequent changes took place in the historical map of Central Asia, borders changed, large state formations formed and disintegrated, such as the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and others.
In the first century AD, Sogdiana and Bactria became part of a powerful slave state, known in history as the power of the “Great Kushans.” The Kushan period (I-IV centuries AD) for Central Asia was a time of significant growth. City life is reviving, trade ties between Sogdian cities, including Samarkand, and China and India are strengthening. Silk, jade, iron, nickel, lacquer and leather products came from East Asia, and glass, precious stones, and jewelry items were exported from Central Asia. Spices, incense, paper and woolen fabrics were delivered from India in exchange for glassware and other Central Asian goods. The Kushan Empire, which experienced a deep decline in the 3rd and 4th centuries, fell under the onslaught of warlike nomadic tribes, collectively known as the Hephthalites. In turn, in the 4th century the Hephthalites were swept away by the tribes that formed the Turkic Kaganate.
Despite the upheavals caused by the change of kingdoms and dynasties, Samarkand continued to play an important role in the economic, political and cultural life of Central Asia and the entire East.
The Sogdians were famous as skilled farmers and artisans, enterprising merchants, talented musicians and dancers. Historian V.V. Bartold, speaking about the Sogdians, emphasized that their cultural activity along the caravan routes of Central Asia was not much inferior to the cultural activity of the Phoenicians along the Mediterranean trade routes. And it is really difficult to overestimate the role of the Sogdians in those days. They actually controlled trade along the entire eastern section of the “Silk Road,” stretching from Merv to the Huang He River. Along the entire length of the ancient trade route, they founded their colonies, established business and economic contacts with local merchants and the population, and widely traded their goods. Overcoming artificial and deliberate obstacles created by the Shahs of Iran, Sogdian merchants penetrated into the West. In the middle of the 6th century, they twice tried to establish trade relations with the central regions of Iran. The first embassy from Sogdiana, headed by Maniakh, was received extremely unkindly at the court of the Sasanian king: the Persians demonstratively burned the silks brought by Sogdian merchants in front of the ambassadors. The Sogdians sent a new caravan. But this attempt ended tragically: the king of Iran ordered the ambassadors of Sogd to be poisoned.
The intrigues of the Iranian rulers could not shake the enterprise and perseverance of the Sogdian merchants. As the Byzantine historian Menander testifies, the envoys of Sogd took advantage of the ancient steppe routes that bypassed Iran along the northern shore of the Caspian Sea and established direct contact with Byzantium. The Sogdian embassy arrived in Constantinople. It was headed by the same Maniakh. The Byzantine emperor, in turn, sent his envoy to Central Asia in 568. In this way, the Sogdians managed to establish strong trade, diplomatic and cultural ties with Byzantium, which lasted for many years. The measure of the high and unique culture of the Sogdians is their writing. They usually wrote from right to left, often the lines were arranged vertically. Back then they wrote in black ink on leather, sticks, tablets, clay shards, and less often on paper.
The earliest Sogdian texts known to science are the so-called “Old Letters”, found by A. Stein’s expedition in 1906-1908. in the ruins of a watchtower west of Dunhuang. These documents date back to the beginning of the 4th century AD. As the research of the French Iranian scholar R. Gauthio has shown, they are written in the Sogdian language and represent private correspondence.
Two letters dictated to the scribe by the Sogdian Mevancha (“Kitty” or “Tiger Cub”) addressed to her mother, who lived in Samarkand, report on the anxious days that the Sogdians then experienced in the trading colonies of East Turkestan in connection with the onslaught of the Huns; about trade affairs; about the private life of the letter writer. So, for example, a girl complains about her sad fate - her guardian Nanidag wants to marry her, but she does not agree: “I would rather be the wife of a dog or a pig than the wife of Nanidat,” Mevancha writes to her mother in Samarkand. But a few years later everything changed. From another letter we learn that the girl became Nanidat’s wife, that she is happily married and tenderly cares for her beloved husband.
The “old letters” did not reach their recipients. For almost 1600 years they lay in the ruins of the tower until they were discovered by archaeologists at the beginning of this century. In the spring of 1965, under the loess strata of the Afrasiab hills in one of the excavated rooms, archaeologists discovered inscriptions that had remained silent for many centuries. A preliminary analysis of the text of the Afrasiab find allowed us to conclude that the inscription contains a message about the arrival of an embassy from Chaganian, a region then located in the area of present-day Termez, to the Samarkand king. This embassy was headed, judging by the inscription, by the head of the chancellery, a certain Bur-Zatak. The text consists of 16 lines and has been preserved almost entirely. Only at the end four words are spoiled. The inscription, as researchers suggest, was made by a professional scribe, and its language is very close to the colloquial speech of the late 7th - early 8th centuries.
The text of the inscription, deciphered by Professor V.A. Lifshits, reads: “When the ambassador of the Xiongnu king arrived, he opened his mouth (and said): “I am the Chaganian head of the chancellery, named Bur-Zatak (Son of Bur), arrived from the Chaganian state of Turantash to Samarkand with an expression of respect to the Samarkand king. And here I am before the (Samarkand) king, full of respect. And you have absolutely no suspicions about me - I am well aware of the Samarkand gods and Samarkand writing and I am full of respect (?) for the power of (your) king, and you will be in complete well-being. And also the Xiongnu king...” (at this point the text is destroyed). That’s what the Chaganian head of the chancellery said.” In addition to the Samarkand king, whose name is not indicated in the inscription, the “Xiongnu king” is also mentioned, and from the text it follows that he was a major ruler - his kingdom should have included Chaganian, from there the embassy arrived. There is reason to assume that the “Hunnic king” should be understood as the ruler of the Hephthalites, who sometimes appears in written sources under the name of the king of Tokharistan. The reservation regarding the Samarkand religion (“gods”) and writing is very interesting - the ambassador wants to assure the residents of Samarkand that he does not even think of encroaching on their faith or writing.
In addition to these sixteen lines of Sogdian text, up to ten more inscriptions were discovered on Afrasiab. Are Afrasiab painting and Sogdian inscriptions a reflection of a real historical event? Or is this just a legend? So far, it is impossible to give an exact answer to this question. Researchers believe that the names of the characters in the 16-line Sogdian inscription speak of an official event in the history of Sogd. The high level of art in Samarkand at that time is evidenced by the artistic merits of the unique examples of wall painting in Afrasiab, which occupied an exceptional place in the history of world art.
New archaeological finds prove that Sogdiana was a flourishing country before the Arab conquest. No wonder the Arabs, who had previously seen Mesopotamia and Iran, admired the fertility and abundance of Sogd, calling it “the garden of the victorious caliph.” And about the capital of Sogd - Samarkand, one of the participants in Kuteiba’s campaign wrote: “Truly, in its greenery it is like the sky, and its palaces are like stars in the heavens, and its river is a mirror for the open spaces, and its wall is the sun for the horizons!” This is how the Arab hordes of Kuteiba found Sogd and its flourishing center Samarkand.