Merv served as the capital of severalpolities throughout its history. In the beginning of the 9th century, Merv was the seat of thecaliphal-Ma'mun and the capital of the entireIslamic caliphate.[3] It served later as the seat of theTahiridgovernors ofKhorasan.[4] In the 11th–12th centuries, Merv was the capital of theGreat Seljuk Empire and remained so until its ultimate fall.[5][6][7] Around this time, Merv turned into a chief centre ofIslamic science andculture, attracting as well as producing renowned poets, musicians, physicians, mathematicians and astronomers. The great PersianpolymathOmar Khayyam, among others, spent a number of years working at the observatory in Merv. As Persian geographer and travelleral-Istakhri wrote of Merv: "Of all the countries ofIran, these people were noted for their talents and education."Arab geographerYaqut al-Hamawi counted as many as 10 giant libraries in Merv, including one within a major mosque that contained 12,000 volumes.[8]
During the 12th and 13th centuries, Merv may have been the world's largest city[11] with a population of up to 500,000. During this period, Merv was known as "Marw al-Shāhijān" (Merv the Great), and frequently referred to as the "capital of the eastern Islamic world". According to geographerYaqut al-Hamawi, the city and its structures were visible from aday's journey away. In 1221, the city opened its gates to an invadingMongol horde, resulting inmassive destruction. Historical accounts contend that the entire population, including refugees were killed;Tolui Khan is reported to have slaughtered 700,000 people.[12][13][14] Though partly rebuilt after the Mongol destruction, the city never regained its former prosperity. Between 1788 and 1789, the city was razed for the last time, byShah Murad of theEmirate of Bukhara, and its population deported. By the 1800s, under pressure from the Russians, the area surrounding Merv was completely deserted.[15][8]
Today the site is preserved by the Government ofTurkmenistan as the State Historical and Cultural Park "Ancient Merv". It was established in 1987 and is regulated by Turkmenistan's legislation. It is the oldest and most perfectly preserved of the oasis cities along the historical Silk Road in Central Asia. A few buildings and structures still stand today, especially those constructed in the last two millennia.UNESCO has listed the site of ancient Merv as aWorld Heritage Site.[16]
Merv has prehistoric roots: archaeological surveys have revealed many traces of village life as far back as the 3rd millennium BC and have associated the area culturally with theBactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex. The geography of theZend-Avesta (commentaries on theAvesta) mentions Merv (under the name ofMouru) along withBalkh. InZoroastrianism, the godAhura Mazda created Mouru as one of sixteen perfect lands.[17]
Under theAchaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC), the historical record mentions Merv as a place of some importance: under the name ofMargu, it occurs as part of onesatrapy in theBehistun inscriptions (c. 515 BC) of thePersian monarchDarius the Great. The first city of Merv was founded in the 6th century BC as part of theAchaemenid expansion into the region ofCyrus the Great (559–530 BC), but later strata deeply cover the Achaemenid levels at the site.[18]
The Seleucid rulerAntiochus Soter (reigned 281–261 BC) renamed it to Antiochia Margiana. He rebuilt and expanded the city at the site presently known asGyaur Gala fortress.Isidore of Charax wrote Antiochia was called the "unwatered" (Ἄνυδρος).[20][21]
After the fall of the Seleucid dynasty (63 BC),Bactria,[citation needed] Parthia, and theKushans took control in succession. In 53 BC, some 10,000 Roman prisoners of war from theBattle of Carrhae appear to have been deported to Merv.[22]
Merv was a major city ofBuddhist learning, with Buddhist monastery temples for many centuries until its Islamisation.[23][24] At the site of Gyaur Kala andBaýramaly, Buddhism was followed and practised often at the local Buddhiststupas.[25]
After the SasanidArdashir I (220–240 AD) took Merv, the study ofnumismatics picks up the thread: the unbroken series of coins originally minted at Merv document a long unbroken direct Sassanian rule of almost four centuries. During this period Merv was home to practitioners of various religions beside the official SassanidZoroastrianism, including Buddhists,Manichaeans, and Christians of theChurch of the East. Between the 5th and 11th centuries, Merv served as the seat of anEast Syrianmetropolitan province. The first bishop wasBarshabba (c.360/424). TheHephthalite occupation from the end of the 5th century to 565 AD briefly interrupted Sassanid rule.[26]
Sassanian rule ended when the last Sassanian ruler,Yazdegerd III (632–651) was killed near the city and the Sassanian military governor surrendered to the approaching Arab army. Representatives of the caliph,Umar occupied the city, which became the capital of theUmayyad province ofKhorasan. In 671,Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan sent 50,000 Arab troops to Merv as a colony. This colony retained its nativeKufan sympathies and became the nucleus of Khurasan.[27] Using the city as their base, the Arabs, led byQutayba ibn Muslim from 705 to 715, brought large parts of Central Asia, includingBalkh,Bukhara, andFergana under subjection. Merv, and Khorasan, in general, became one of the first parts of thePersian-speaking world to become majority-Muslim. Arab immigration to the area was substantial. A Chinese man captured at Talas,Du Huan, was brought toBaghdad and toured the caliphate. He observed that in Merv, Khurasan, Arabs and Persians lived in mixed concentrations.[28]
Merv gained renewed importance in February 748 when the Iranian generalAbu Muslim (d. 755) declared a newAbbasid dynasty at Merv, expanding and re-founding the city, and, in the name of theAbbasid line, used the city as a base of rebellion against the Umayyad caliphate. After the Abbasids established themselves in Baghdad, Abu Muslim continued to rule Merv as a semi-independent prince until his eventual assassination. Indeed, Merv operated as the centre of Abbasid partisanship for the duration of theAbbasid Revolution of 746–750, and became a consistent source of political support for the Abbasid rulers in Baghdad later on; the governorship of Khurasan at Merv was one of the most important political figures of theCaliphate. The influentialBarmakid family, based in Merv, played an important part in transferring Greek knowledge (established in Merv since the days of theSeleucids andGreco-Bactrians) into the Arab world.[29]
Throughout the Abbasid era, Merv remained the capital and most important city of Khurasan. During this time, the Arab historianAl-Muqaddasi (c. 945/946–991) called Merv "delightful, fine, elegant, brilliant, extensive, and pleasant". Merv's architecture inspired the Abbasid re-planning of Baghdad. A 10th-century Arab historian,Ibn Hawqal, wrote of Merv: "and in no other city are to be seen such palaces and groves, and gardens and streams".[8]
Merv was also known for its high-quality textiles. A 12th-century Arab geographeral-Idrisi noted: "From this country is derived much silk as well as cotton of a superior quality under the name of Merv cotton, which is extremely soft." TheIslamic world admired the elegant robes and silk turbans produced in Merv.[8] The city was notable as a home for immigrants from the Arab lands and those fromSogdia and elsewhere in Central Asia.[30]
In the period from 813 to 818, the temporary residency of the caliph,al-Ma'mun effectively made Merv the capital of the Muslim world and highlighted Merv's importance to theAbbasids. A descendant of the Islamic prophetMuhammad,8th Imam ofTwelver Shia Islam,Ali ar-Ridha moved to Merv and lived there for several years. Merv also became the centre of a major 8th-century Neo-Mazdakite movement led byal-Muqanna, the "Veiled Prophet", who gained many followers by claiming to be an incarnation of God and heir to Abu Muslim; theKhurramiyya inspired by him, persisted in Merv until the 12th century.[9][3]
During this period Merv, likeSamarqand and Bukhara, functioned as one of the great cities of Muslim scholarship; the celebrated historianYaqut (1179–1229) studied in its libraries. Merv produced a number of scholars in various branches of knowledge, such asIslamic law,hadith, history, and literature. Several scholars have the name "Marwazi" (المروزي) designating them as hailing from Merv. The city continued to have a substantial Christian community. In 1009, the Archbishop of Merv sent a letter to the Patriarch at Baghdad asking that theKeraites be allowed to fast less than other Nestorian Christians.[31] GreatPersianpolymathOmar Khayyam, among others, spent several years working at the observatory in Merv. As Persian geographer and travelleral-Istakhri wrote of Merv: "Of all the countries ofIran, these people were noted for their talents and education." Yaqut al-Hamawi counted as many as 10 giant libraries in Merv, including one within a major mosque that contained 12,000 volumes.[8]
As the caliphate weakened, Persian generalTahir b. al -Husayn and hisTahirid dynasty replaced Arab rule in Merv in 821. The Tahirids ruled Merv from 821 to 873, followed by theSaffarids, then theSamanids and later theGhaznavids.[32]
In 1037, theSeljuq Turkmens, a clan ofOghuz Turks moving from the steppes east of theAral Sea, peacefully took over Merv under the leadership ofTughril—the Ghaznavid sultanMas'ud I was extremely unpopular in the city. Tughril's brotherChaghri stayed in Merv as the Seljuq domains grew to include the rest ofKhurasan and Iran, and it subsequently became a favourite city of the Seljuq sultans. Chaghri, his sonAlp Arslan (sultan from 1063 to 1072) and great-grandsonAhmad Sanjar (sultan from 1118 to 1157) were buried at Merv, the latter at theTomb of Ahmad Sanjar.[35]
Nearing the end of the 11th century, Merv became the eastern capital of thesplit Seljuq state. However, starting from 1118, it served as the capital of the whole empire.[36] During this period, Merv expanded to its greatest size—Arab and Persian geographers termed it "the mother of the world", the "rendezvous of great and small", the "chief city of Khurasan" and the "capital of the eastern Islamic world". Written sources also attest to a large library andmadrasa founded byNizam al-Mulk, vizier of the Seljuq empire, as well as many other major cultural institutions. Perhaps most importantly, Merv had a market described as "the best of the major cities of Iran and Khurasan".[37]
Sanjar's rule, marked by conflict with theKara-Khitai andKhwarazmians, ended in 1153 whenTurkmen nomads from beyond theAmu Darya pillaged the city. Subsequently, Merv changed hands from the Turkmen nomads to theGhurids in 1192, and to theKhwarizmians in 1204. According toTertius Chandler, by 1150 Merv was the world's largest city, with a population of 200,000.[38] By 1210, it may have had as many as 500,000 residents, preceding such medieval metropolises asConstantinople and Baghdad.[39][40]
In 1221, Merv opened its gates toTolui, son ofGenghis Khan, chief of theMongols. Most of the inhabitants are said to have been butchered. Arab historianIbn al-Athir described the event basing his report on the narrative of Merv refugees:
Genghis Khan sat on a golden throne and ordered the troops who had been seized should be brought before him. When they were in front of him, they were executed and the people looked on and wept. When it came to the common people, they separated men, women, children and possessions. It was a memorable day for shrieking and weeping and wailing. They took the wealthy people and beat them and tortured them with all sorts of cruelties in the search for wealth ... Then they set fire to the city and burned the tomb of Sultan Sanjar and dug up his grave looking for money. They said, "These people have resisted us" so they killed them all. Then Genghis Khan ordered that the dead should be counted and there were around 700,000 corpses.[8]
A Persian historian,Juvayni, put the figure at more than 1,300,000.[41] Each individual soldier of the conquering army "was allotted the execution of three to four hundred persons", many of those soldiers being levies fromSarakhs who, because of their town's enmity toward Merv, "exceeded the ferocity of the heathen Mongols in the slaughter of their fellow-Muslims."[42] Almost the entire population of Merv, and refugees arriving from the other parts of theKhwarazmian Empire, were slaughtered, making it one of the bloodiest captures of a city in world history.[43]
Excavations revealed the drastic rebuilding of the city's fortifications in the aftermath of their destruction, but the city's prosperity had passed. The Mongol invasion spelled the eclipse of Merv and other major centres for more than a century. After the Mongol conquest, Merv became part of theIlkhanate, and it was consistently looted byChagatai Khanate. In the early part of the 14th century, the town became the seat of a Christian archbishopric of the Eastern Church under the rule of theKartids, vassals of the Ilkhanids. By 1380, Merv belonged to the empire ofTimur (Tamerlane).[44]
Fresco depicting the Battle at Merv of 1510 between Shah Ismail I and the Uzbek Khan Muhammad Shaybani. Located at theChehel Sotoun Palace inIsfahan, Iran
In 1505, theUzbeks occupied Merv. Five years later,Shah Ismail, the founder of theSafavid dynasty of Iran, expelled them. In this period, a Persian nobleman restored a large dam, the Soltanbent, on the riverMurghab. The settlement which developed in the irrigated area became known asBaýramaly.[45]
After Shah Ismail's death, the region became a dependency ofKhiva. However, in 1593, Merv was conquered byAbdullah Khan II ofBukhara.[46][47] The city was soon captured by Shah Abbas. A Safavid governor, Biktash Khan Ustajlu,. was appointed to the governorship in 1600.
In 1608, Mihrab Khan Qajar became governor, beginning two centuries ofQajar governorship over Merv.[47] From 1715, the Qajar elite began to assert Merv's independence from the Safavid government, but within a decade the oasis became insecure due to raids by Tatars and Turkmens. Nader Shah launched military campaigns that cowed the Turkmens and Tatars and restored Merv's irrigation system.[47] After Nader Shah's death, the local Qajars in the region declared independence and formed theQajar Principality of Merv.[46][47][48] In 1785, theManghit amir of Bukhara,Shah Murad, attacked the city and killed the ruler, Bayram 'Ali Khan Qajar.[47][48] A few years later, in 1788 and 1789, Shah Murad razed the city to the ground, and broke down the dams, leaving the area a waste land.[why?]
The entire population of the city and the surrounding oasis of about 100,000 were then deported in several stages to the Bukharan oasis and theSamarkand region in theZarafshan Valley. Being the last remaining Persian-speakingShias, the deportees resisted assimilation into theSunni population of Bukhara and Samarkand, despite the common Persian language they spoke with most natives. These Marvis survive as of 2016[update];Soviet censuses listed them as "Iranis/Iranians" through the 1980s. They live in Samarkand and Bukhara and the area in between on the Zarafshan river. They are listed as Persian speaking but counted separately from the localTajiks because of their Shia religion and their maintaining of their ancient Mervi identity.[49]
Merv passed to theKhanate of Khiva in 1823.[how?] SirAlexander Burnes traversed the country in 1832. About this time, the Persians forced theTekkeTurkmens, then living on theTejen River, to migrate northward. Khiva contested the Tekkes' advance, but in about 1856, the latter became the sovereign power in the country, and remained so until theRussians occupied the oasis in 1884. By 1868, the Russians had taken most of what would becomeRussian Central Asia exceptTurkmenistan. The Russians approached this area from the Caspian, and in 1881, theycaptured Geok Tepe in one of the bloodiest battles in the region. Much of the civilian population that was unable to flee was later massacred by the Russian troops. The Russians further occupied the oasis ofTejen, eighty miles to the west. The next Russian move was southtoward Herat. By 1888, the city was entirely abandoned.[50][51]
A future viceroy ofBritish India,George Curzon visited the remains of Merv in 1888. He later wrote: "In the midst of an absolute wilderness of crumbling brick and clay, the spectacle of walls, towers, ramparts and domes, stretching in bewildering confusion to the horizon, reminds us that we are in the centre of bygone greatness."[8]
Some exploratory excavations at Merv were conducted in 1885[52] by the Russian general A. V. Komarov, the governor of the Transcaspian oblast, 1883–1889; Komarov employed his troops as excavators and published his collection of trophy artifacts and coins from the area in 1900.[53] Valentin Alekseevich Zhukovsky of the Imperial Archaeological Commission directed the first fully professional dig in 1890 and published in 1894. GeologistRaphael Pumpelly and a German archaeologist, Hubert Schmidt, directed the American Carnegie Institute's excavations.[54]
Merv is the focus of the Ancient Merv Project (initially called the International Merv Project).[55] From 1992 to 2000, a joint team of archaeologists from Turkmenistan and the UK have made remarkable discoveries. In 2001, theInstitute of Archaeology,University College London and the Turkmen authorities started a new collaboration. This Ancient Merv Project is concerned with the complex conservation and management issues posed by this site, furthering understanding of the site through archaeological research, and disseminating the results of the work to the widest possible audience.[56]
Merv consists of a few discrete walled cities very near to each other constructed on uninhabited land by builders of different eras, used, and then abandoned and never rebuilt. Four walled cities correspond to the chief periods of Merv's importance: the oldest, Erkgala, corresponds to Achaemenid Merv, the smallest of the three.Gäwürgala (also known as Gyaur Gala), which surrounds Erkgala, comprises theHellenistic and Sassanianmetropolis and also served as anindustrial suburb to the Abbasid/Seljuk city, Soltangala—by far the largest of the three. The smallerTimurid city was founded a short distance to the south and is now called Abdyllahangala. Other ancient buildings are scattered between and around these four cities; all the sites are preserved in the "Ancient Merv Archaeological Park" just north of the modern village ofBaýramaly and 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of the large Soviet-built city of Mary.[57]
Erk Gala (from Persian, "the citadel fort") is the oldest part of the city of Merv complex. Built in the 7th century BC, Erk Gala was built as a Persian Style fortress controlling theoasis on theMurghab River. The Erk Gala fortress later served as theacropolis for the Hellenistic city and later the Arc of the Islamic city.[58]
The foundation ofGäwürgala (Turkmen from the Persian "Gabr Qala", "Fortress of theZoroastrians") occurred in the early Hellenistic era under the rule of the Seleucid kingAntiochus I. The city was continuously inhabited under a series of Hellenistic rulers, by theParthians, and then under the Sassanids, who made it the capital of a satrapy.Gäwürgala was the capital of the Umayyad province of Khurasan and grew in importance as Khurasan became the most loyally Muslim part of the Iranian world during Islam's first two centuries.[59]
Gäwürgala's most visible remaining structures are its defensive installations. Three walls, one built atop the next, are in evidence. A Seleucid wall, graduated in the interior and straight on the exterior, forms a platform for the second, larger wall, built of mudbricks and stepped on the interior. The form of this wall is like other Hellenistic fortresses found inAnatolia, though this is unique for being made of mudbrick instead of stone. The third wall is possibly Sassanian and is built of larger bricks. Surrounding the wall were a variety of pottery sherds, particularly Parthian ones. The size of these fortifications is evidence of Merv's importance during the pre-Islamic era; no pre-Islamic fortifications of comparable size have been found anywhere in theGaragum.Gäwürgala is also important for the vast amount of numismatic evidence it has revealed; an unbroken series of Sassanian coins has been found there, hinting the extraordinary political stability of this period. Even after the foundation of Soltangala by Abu Muslim at the start of the Abbasid dynasty,Gäwürgala persisted as a suburb of the larger Soltangala. InGäwürgala are concentrated many Abbasid-era "industrial" buildings: pottery kilns, steel, iron and copper-working workshops and so on. A well-preserved pottery kiln has an intact vaulted arch support and a square firepit.Gäwürgala seems to have been the craftsmen's quarters throughout the Abbasid and pre-Seljuk periods.[citation needed]
Soltangala (from "Sultan Qala", the sultan's fortress) is by far the largest of Merv's cities. Textual sources establish it was Abu Muslim, the leader of the Abbasid rebellion, who symbolised the beginning of the new Caliphate by commissioning monumental structures to the west of theGäwürgala walls, in what then became Soltangala.[60] The area was quickly walled and became the core of medieval Merv; the many Abbasid-eraköshks (fortified building) discovered in and outside Soltangala attest to the centuries of prosperity which followed.Kushks (Persian,Kushk, "pavilion", "kiosk"), which comprise the chief remains of Abbasid Merv, are a building type unique to Central Asia during this period. A kind of semi-fortified two-story palace, whose corrugated walls give it a unique and striking appearance,köshks were the residences of Merv's elite. The second storey of these structures comprised living quarters; the first storey may have been used for storage. Parapets lined the roof, which was often used for living quarters as well. Merv's largest and best-preserved Abbasidköşk is the Greater Gyzgala (Turkmen, "maiden's fortress"), located just outside Soltangala's western wall; this structure consisted of 17 rooms surrounding a central courtyard. The nearby Lesser Gyzgala had extraordinarily thick walls with deep corrugations, as well as multiple interior stairways leading to second storey living quarters. All of Merv'skushks are in precarious states of preservation.[61]
However, the most important of Soltangala's surviving buildings are Seljuq constructions. Seljuq leaderToghrul's conquest of Merv in 1037 revitalised the city; under his descendants, especially Sanjar, who made it his residence, Merv found itself at the centre of a large multicultural empire.[62]
Great Kyz Qala (fortress), Merv
Evidence of this prosperity is found throughout the Soltangala. Many of these buildings are concentrated in Soltangala's citadel, the Shahryar Ark (Persian, "the Sovereign's citadel"), is on its east side. In the centre of the Sharhryar Ark is the Seljuk palace, probably built by Sanjar. The surviving mud brick walls lead to the conclusion that this palace, though relatively small, was composed of tall, single-storey rooms surrounding a central court along with four axialiwans at the entrance to each side. Low areas nearby seem to indicate a large garden, which included an artificial lake; similar gardens were found in other Central Asian palaces. Any remnants of interior or exterior decoration have been lost because of erosion or theft.[63]
Another notable Seljuk structure within the Shahryar Ark is thekepderihana (from the Persian, "Kaftar Khaneh", or "pigeon house", i.e., thecolumbarium). This mysterious building, among the best-preserved in the whole Merv oasis, comprises one long and narrow windowless room with many tiers of niches across the walls. Some sources Believe thekepter khana (there are more elsewhere in Merv and Central Asia) was a pigeon roost used to raise pigeons, to collect their dung, which was used in growing the melons for which Merv was famous. Others see thekepderihanas as libraries or treasuries, because of their location in high status areas next to important structures.[64]
Little Kyz Qala (fortress), Merv
The best-preserved of all the structures in Merv is the 12th-centurymausoleum ofSultan Sanjar, also in Sultan Gala. It is the largest of Seljuk mausoleums and is also the first dated mosque-mausoleum complex, a form which was later to become common. It is square, 27 metres (89 ft) per side, with two entrances on opposite sides; a large central dome supported by an octagonal system of ribs and arches covers the interior (Ettinghausen, 270). The dome's exterior was turquoise, and its height made it imposing; it was said that approaching caravans could see the mausoleum while still a day's march from the city. The mausoleum's decoration, in typical early Seljuk style, was conservative, with interior stucco work and geometric brick decoration, now mainly lost, on the outside. Except for the recently "reconstructed" exterior decoration, the largely intact mausoleum remains just as it was in the 12th century.[65]
A final set ofSeljuq remains are the walls of the Soltangala. These fortifications, which largely remain, began as eight-to-nine-metre-high (26 to 30 ft) mud brick structures, inside of which were chambers for defenders to shoot arrows from. There were horseshoe-shaped towers every 15 to 35 metres (49 to 115 ft). These walls, however, did not prove to be effective because they were not of adequate thickness to withstand catapults and other artillery. By the mid-12th century, the galleries were filled in, and the wall was greatly strengthened. A secondary, smaller wall was built in front of the Soltangala's main wall, and finally the medieval city's suburbs—known today as Isgendergala—were enclosed by a 5-metre-thick (16 ft) wall. The three walls held off the Mongol army for at least one of its offensives, before ultimately succumbing in 1221.[66]
Exterior of Kepderihana's south wall
Many ceramics have been recovered from the Abbasid and Seljuk eras, primarily fromGäwürgala, the city walls of Soltangala, and the Shahryar Ark. TheGäwürgala ware was primarily late Abbasid and consisted primarily of red slip-painted bowls with geometric designs. The pottery recovered from the Sultan Gala walls is dominated by 11th to 12th-century colour-splashed yellow and green pottery, similar to contemporary styles common inNishapur.[66] Turquoise and black bowls were discovered in the Shahryar Ark palace, as well as a deposit of Mongol-style pottery, perhaps related to the city's unsuccessful re-foundation under theIl-khans. Also from this era, is a ceramic mask used for decorating walls found among the ruins of what is believed—not without controversy—to be aMongol-built Buddhist temple in the southern suburbs of Sultan Gala.[67]
Shaim Kala was built in the 7th century AD. Shaim Kala was a self-contained walled city intended to relieve over-crowding, and to deal with the religious and political discontent of the newly arrived peoples.[68]
Today, the site of the ancient Merv is located nearBaýramali city of Mary velayat, Turkmenistan. It is a city in and the seat ofBaýramaly District,Mary Province,Turkmenistan. It lies about 27 km east of the provincial capitalMary. In 2009, its population was estimated at 88,486 (up from 43,824 in the 1989 census).[70]
The present inhabitants of the oasis are primarilyTurkmens of the Teke tribe and somePersians orTajiks. There are relatively large minorities of theBeluch and theBrahui in the Merv Oasis as well.[71]
An elaborate system of canals cut from the Murghab irrigates the oasis. The country is renowned throughout the East for its fertility. Every kind of cereal and many fruits grow in great abundance, e.g. wheat, millet, barley and melons, also rice and cotton. Cotton seeds from archaeological levels as far back as the 5th century are the first indication that cotton textiles were already an important economic component of the Sassanian city.Silkworms have been bred. Turkmens possess a famous breed of horses (Turkoman horse) and keep camels, sheep, cattle, asses and mules. Turkmens work in silver and armour. One discovery of the 1990s excavations was a 9th- to 10th-century workshop wherecrucible steel was being produced, confirming contemporary Islamic reports by Islamic scholaral-Kindi (AD 801–866). He referred to the region of Khorasan as producing steel. This was made by a co-fusion process wherecast iron andwrought iron are melted together.[72][73]
The oasis of Merv is situated on the Murghab River that flows down fromAfghanistan, on the southern edge of theKarakum Desert, at 37°30’N and 62°E, about 230 miles (370 km) north ofHerat, and 280 miles (450 km) south of Khiva. Its area is about 1,900 square miles (4,900 km2). The great chain of mountains which, under the names ofParopamisade andHindu Kush, extends from theCaspian Sea to thePamir Mountains is interrupted some 180 miles (290 km) south of Merv. Through or near this gap flow northwards in parallel courses the Tejen andMurgab rivers, until they lose themselves in the Karakum Desert. Thus, they make Merv a sort of watch tower over the entrance into Afghanistan on the north-west and at the same time create a stepping-stone orétape between north-east Persia and the states of Bukhara and Samarqand.[74]
Merv is advantageously situated in the inland delta of the Murghab River, which flows from its source in the Hindu Kush northwards through the Garagum desert. The Murghab delta region, known to the Greeks asMargiana, gives Merv two distinct advantages: first, it provides an easy southeast–northwest route from the Afghan highlands towards the lowlands of Karakum, the Amu Darya valley andKhwarezm. Second, the Murgab delta, being a large well-watered zone in the midst of the dry Karakum, serves as a natural stopping-point for the routes from northwest Iran towardsTransoxiana—the Silk Roads. The delta, and thus Merv, lies at the junction of these two routes: the northwest–southeast route to Herat and Balkh (to theIndus and beyond) and the southwest–northeast route fromTus and Nishapur to Bukhara and Samarkand.[75]
This place was a stop on theSilk Road during the time of theHan dynasty. Here merchants could trade for fresh horses or camels at thisoasis city.[76]
^Yakubovskii, A.Yu.;Bosworth, C.E. (2007).Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (ed.).Historic Cities of the Islamic World.Brill. p. 401.ISBN978-9004153882.Archived from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved1 November 2020.Merv, the conventional form of the Arabic Marw or Marw al-Shāhijān, an ancient city of the northeastern part of the Iranian world, in medieval Islamic times, in the province of Khurasan. The site of Merv now lies over the border from the Islamic Republic of Iran and within the Turkmen Republic, near the modern town of what was in Soviet times Mary. The form of the name Marw al-Shāhijān clearly related to the city's position in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times as the seat of the representatives of royal authority, themarzbāns of the East, and its role as a bastion of this part of the Iranian world as a bastion against barbarian pressure from the inner Asian steppes.
^abSourdel, Dominique."Al-Maʾmūn, Abbāsid caliph".Encyclopedia Britannica.Archived from the original on 7 June 2021. Retrieved9 June 2021.Al-Maʾmūn, having become caliph of the entire ʿAbbāsid empire, decided to continue to reside at Merv, assisted by his faithful Iranian vizier al-Faḍl.
^Starr, Frederick (2015).Lost Enlightenment. Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane.Princeton University Press. p. 425.Sanjar's capital at Merv was not the ancient center around the ErkKala but a ...
^Chandler, Tertius (2013).3000 Years of Urban Growth.Elsevier Science. p. 232.Hence under 125000 and probably under 100000—as Merv rose very fast as a Seljuk capital
^Brummel, Paul (2005).Turkmenistan.Bradt Travel Guides. p. 7.The Seljuks were to establish a mighty empire stretching right to the Mediterranean, with Merv as its capital.
^Naimark, Norman (2017).Genocide A World History. Oxford University Press. p. 21.ISBN9780199765263.The city of Merv fell in February 1221 to Tolui, Genghis Khan's youngest son, who is said to have massacred 700,000 persons while sparing some eighty craftsmen.
^Goldstein, Joshua (2011).Winning the War on War The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide. Penguin Publishing Group. pp. 45–63.ISBN9781101549087.
^Bonner, Jay (2017).Islamic Geometric Patterns Their Historical Development and Traditional Methods of Construction. Springer New York. p. 115.ISBN9781441902177.
^Williams, Tim. "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Photography: Exploring the Medieval City of Merv, on the Silk Roads of Central Asia".Archaeology International, Issue 15 (2011–2012), pp. 74–88.
^Tarn, W. W. (2003).Alexander the Great. Vol. 2: Sources and Studies. Cambridge University Press. pp. 232–236.
^Lowe, Roy (2016).The Origins of Higher Learning Knowledge Networks and the Early Development of Universities. Taylor & Francis. pp. 95–98.
^Herrmann, Georgina (1999).Monuments of Merv: Traditional Buildings of the Karakum. London:Society of Antiquaries of London. p. 113.
^Cary-Elwes, Columba.China and the Cross. (New York: P. J. Kennedy and Sons, 1956)
^"The International Merv Project Preliminary Report on the Ninth Year (2000)".Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies.39. Michigan University: 41.
^Gye, David; Hillenbrand, Robert (2001). "Mausolea at Merv and Dehistan".Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies.39 5.JSTOR4300597.Archived 22 May 2021 at theWayback Machine
^Peacock, Andrew (2015).The Great Seljuk Empire.Edinburgh University Press. pp. 35–47.The earlier parts of Sanjar's reign in some respects represented a second zenith of Seljuk rule, marked by successful campaigns across Central Asia and a flourishing intellectual and cultural life at his oasis capital of Merv
^Starr, Frederick (2015).Lost Enlightenment. Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane.Princeton University Press. p. 425.The late Tertius Chandler, in his study Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, concluded that by 1150 Merv was the largest city in the world, with a population of 200,000.
^Ewans, Martin (2008).Britain and Russia in Central Asia, 1880–1907. Routledge. pp. 341–360.
^Merv, controlling the route fromHerat, was conquered by Komarov's troops without much resistance in 1885, part of theGreat Game: André Kamev,Le Turkménistan 2005:104
^Fredrik T. Hiebert, Kakamyrat Gurbansähedow and Hubert Schmidt,A Central Asian Village at the Dawn of Civilization, Excavations at Anau (University of Pennsylvania) 2003:3.
^V. A. Zhukovsky,Razvalinii starogo Merva (St Peterburg, 1894).
^Bradley, Mayhew (2000).Central Asia. Lonely Planet. p. 482.
^Williams, Tim; Kurbansakhatov, K. (2002), "The Ancient Merv Project, Turkmenistan. Preliminary Report on the First Season (2001)", Iran, 40, pp. 15–42.
^Donald B. Wagner (continuing fromJoseph Needham),Science and Civilisation in China: 5. Chemistry and Chemical Technology: part 11 Ferrous Metallurgy (Cambridge University Press 2008), 265 357.
^Ramamoorthy, Gopalakrishnan (1982).The Geography and Politics of Afghanistan. Concept. pp. 75–84.
^Thubron, Colin (2012).Shadow of the Silk Road. Random House. pp. 2–78.
^O'Donovan, Edmund (1883).The Merv Oasis Travels and Adventures East of the Caspian During the Years 1879-80-81, Including Five Months' Residence Among the Tekkés of Merv. Harvard University. p. 422.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Bealby, John Thomas (1911). "Merv".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). pp. 175–176.
Ettinghausen, Richard; Grabar, Oleg (1994), The Art and Architecture of Islam 650–1250, New Haven:Yale University Press
Herrmann, Georgina; Masson, VM; Kurbansakhatov, K (1992), "The International Merv Project, Preliminary Report on the First Season (1992).", Iran, 31, pp. 39–62.
Herrmann, Georgina; Kurbansakhatov, K (1993), "The International Merv Project, Preliminary Report on the Second Season (1992).", Iran, 32, pp. 53–75.
Herrmann, Georgina; Kurbansakhatov, K (2000), "The International Merv Project, Preliminary Report on the Ninth Year (2000).", Iran, 39, pp. 9–52.
Herrmann, Georgina; Kurbansakhatov, K (1999), "The International Merv Project, Preliminary Report on the Seventh Season (1998).", Iran, 37, pp. 9–52.
Williams, Tim; Kurbansakhatov, K (2002), "The Ancient Merv Project, Turkmenistan. Preliminary Report on the First Season (2001)", Iran, 40, pp. 15–42.
Williams, Tim; Kurbansakhatov, K (2003), "The Ancient Merv Project, Turkmenistan. Preliminary Report on the First Season (2002)", Iran, 41, pp. 139–172.
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