History of Merv. Merv, city of infidels

After the Arab conquest of Central Asia in the 7th century. finds a second life as a springboard for aggressive expeditions to the north and east. Under the Abbasids, Merv was one of the main centers of Arab book learning, possessing ten libraries.

The heyday of the city begins under the reign of the Samanid dynasty. Merv reached its greatest prosperity in the middle of the 12th century, when Sultan Sanjar made it the capital of the Seljuk state. At this time, Merv amazed contemporaries with the scale of its buildings and its huge population, which, according to some estimates, was greater than the population of Constantinople and Baghdad. It continued to be the largest center of Central Asia even under the Khorezmshahs.

In 1221, Merv was destroyed by the Mongols and was not revived until the 15th century, when the Timurids finally put its irrigation structures in order, but Merv could not achieve its former greatness, and over time the settlement was moved to the site of the modern city of Mary. With the arrival in the 1880s. The Russian army (see the battle on Kushka) began an archaeological study of the territory of the Merv oasis, which became systematic in the post-war period thanks to the activities of M. E. Masson.

Infrastructure

• The 12-hectare Erk-Kala citadel dates back to the Achaemenid era. A building on a monolithic platform rises above the fort, surrounded by a mud wall.
• The territory of the early medieval settlement of Gyaur-Kala with the ruins of several Buddhist and Christian monasteries, as well as two-story castles of nobles.
• The Sultan-Kala settlement in the shape of an irregular quadrangle is the core of the capital of the Seljuk Turks, somewhat west of Gyaur-Kala.
• The Shahriyar Ark citadel dates back to the Seljuk period and includes extensive ruins of barracks and palace buildings, as well as the mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar.
• Mausoleum of Muhammad ibn-Zeid on the suburban territory of the Seljuk capital - erected ca. 1112
• The southern settlement of Abdullah Khan-Kala represents the last period of development of Merv and is distinguished by a regular layout (palace, mosques, madrassas, mausoleums).

Famous people from Merv

• Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Marwazi (770-870), mathematician and astronomer.
• Abbas Marwazi is a 9th century Persian poet.
• Masudi Marwazi - Persian poet of the 10th century.
• Sharaf al-Zaman Tahir al-Marwazi, 12th century physician

see also

• "Hakim of Merv, Masked Dyer" - story by Jorge Luis Borges

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Notes

Literature

• V. M. Masson Merv is the capital of Margiana. - Mary, 1991 - 73 p.

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Excerpt characterizing Merv (ancient city)

At the beginning of 1806, Nikolai Rostov returned on vacation. Denisov was also going home to Voronezh, and Rostov persuaded him to go with him to Moscow and stay in their house. At the penultimate station, having met a comrade, Denisov drank three bottles of wine with him and, approaching Moscow, despite the potholes of the road, he did not wake up, lying at the bottom of the relay sleigh, near Rostov, which, as it approached Moscow, came more and more to impatience.

Turkmenistan: Ancient Merv Who is the very first Of all the heavenly deities Above Chara rises Before the immortal Sun, Whose horses are fast, And the first to reach the Beautiful, golden Peaks, from where He sees the entire Aryan region, Where brave rulers Gather for battle, Where on the high mountains, Secluded, full of pastures, Cattle graze freely; Where on lakes the waves rise deep And where navigable rivers Wide streams rush their flow And to Ishkata Porutskaya, And to Merv, which is in Kharaiva, And to Gava, in Sogdiana, Or flows to Khorezm. Avesta. Selected hymns. Translation from Avestan by Prof. I.M. Steblin-Kamensky. Dushanbe, 1990. P. 57. Thirty kilometers east of Mary in the valley of the Murghab River there is a fairly large territory, the archaeological monuments of which are united by one name - Ancient Merv. Once upon a time, each of the five settlements, the remains of dilapidated buildings of which can be seen today, flourished in their era. The most ancient is represented by the Erk-Kala fortress, then the ancient settlement of the ancient world - Gyaur-Kala, the fortified settlement of the Arab period - Shaim Kala, the Seljuk-era fortress of Sultan-Kala and the settlement of Timur's time - Abdullah-Khan-Kala. The latter is called New Merv, since it arose two hundred years after Old Merv, based on buildings from the second millennium BC. until the 6-7 centuries AD, was completely destroyed by the Tatar-Mongols. Thus, Merv moved around its historical core for many centuries, growing and developing like a living organism. Until recently, the modern city of Mary was called Merv.
Each of the past eras has left its own unique evidence represented by architecture, pottery, coins and many other finds.
Unfortunately, the buildings of Ancient Merv are badly damaged. But still, even in the ruins you can feel the spirit of the time when they were either a fortress, or a palace, or a tomb.
The settlement of Erk-Kala is the most ancient city of Merv, surrounded by a high fortress wall; later it became part of the ancient Gyaur-Kala, on the territory of which a Zoroastrian sanctuary, a Christian church, a Jewish temple, a Buddhist temple and a Muslim mosque were discovered. The latter was built later than all by the Arabs, who destroyed a prosperous city in which almost all religions of that time coexisted peacefully. Later they founded a city next to the destroyed one, but in the center of it they built their own mosque.
Today Erk-Kala looks like a clay funnel, or a buried volcano: a high and wide wall with melted bricks surrounds several similar melted hills and a small plateau. It is interesting to walk along the wall around the ancient settlement. It takes twenty minutes at a fast pace. It is also curious that shards are lying everywhere underfoot: simple from ordinary household ceramic vessels and covered with a bright glaze of heavenly, azure, and brown colors. There are also ancient coins. Some local residents make a living by collecting coins after the rain, like mushrooms, and then selling them to tourists.
But the most impressive of all the surviving fortresses is undoubtedly the Kiz-Kala fortress. This is a fortress fortified on all sides with unusual, as if corrugated, walls. It dates back to the 7th-8th centuries. Consists of two floors. The photo on the right shows the entrances to the lower floor and to the fortress wall.
Today you can only get to the top floor. The lower one remained buried underground. Archaeologists have not yet decided to excavate it, fearing the collapse of the entire structure.
Like many Asian buildings, the fortress was built of mud brick (a mixture of clay and straw) and, having stood for centuries in the open air, lost its strength. Opposite Kiz-Kala there is another feudal fortress - it is smaller and not so well preserved. But the people united these two fortresses in one legend.
Beautiful girls lived in the Big Castle, and boys lived in the Small Castle. When one of the guys wanted to get married, he took a stone and threw it at the Big Castle. If a stone fell into the castle courtyard, the guy could go and choose a wife. I think few of the guys managed to get married, since the distance between the castles is such that not a single man can throw a stone, even if he is the strongest and most dexterous, unless he comes up with some kind of device, like a large slingshot or a sling, and then, success doubtful. But that's what legends are - believe it or not. And the name of the fortress is translated as “maiden’s fortress”.
We managed to visit these fortresses at dawn, when there was not a soul nearby, and the walls of the old fortresses still met the sun in the same way as many centuries ago. But that morning the silence of the chambers was broken by our exclamations of admiration and the guide’s heartfelt story. The monuments of the 11th-12th centuries, when Merv was the capital of the Seljuk state, are much better preserved. At that time, thanks to the roads of the Great Silk Road, passing through Merv, trade, crafts, arts, and science developed in the city. The famous oriental scientist, philosopher, and poet Omar Khayyam lived and worked in Merv.
There are many Islamic mausoleums in Merv in which former rulers or saints of the Arab world are buried. This is the well-preserved mausoleum of Muhammad ibn Zeid. It is built of baked bricks, and its interior is richly decorated with a unique wall inscription in Arabic and figured ornaments.
An old grandfather, Yashuli (an old respected man), lives in a mud hut next to the mausoleum. He welcomes all guests and not so long ago he personally met and talked about the mausoleum, but now he is blind and sits in his hut, also rejoicing when someone looks in on him. Grandfather is many years old; he himself does not remember when he was born. People from the nearest village take care of him, and tourists also look into his lonely cell with interest.
The mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar, the ruler of Merv of the Seljuk era, is beautiful. It is located in the very center of Sultan-Kala and amazingly survived even after the Tatar invasion, although over time it lost the blue covering of the dome. Today the mausoleum has been restored.
There is also one very unusual legend, even a fairy tale, about Sultan Sanjar. Once Sultan Sanjar saw Peri and fell in love with her. He did not hide his feelings and confessed his love to the beauty, asking her to become his wife. Peri agreed, but on three conditions. First: she demanded that Sanjar never look back or look after her. Second: so that her husband never watches her comb her hair. And third: so that the Sultan never tries to hug her. The man in love vowed to fulfill them without hesitation, although Peri warned: “If you break your vow, I will leave and never return.” Time passed, and the Sultan, overcome by curiosity, looked back after his beloved. And I saw that her feet did not touch the floor, she did not walk, but hovered in the air. The Sultan gasped, and Peri, noticing his gaze, became very angry, but, heeding her husband’s pleas, she forgave him, reminding him of two other conditions. But the Sultan also violated the second condition. He looked through the keyhole and saw his wife combing her hair. Peri took off her head and, placing it in front of her, combed her hair. Having caught her husband, Peri became even more angry, but the Sultan fell to his knees in front of her, begging her not to leave him. Peri was touched by his pleas and she stayed. More time has passed. The Sultan, like any man, longed to hug his beloved and, unable to contain his passion, grabbed the peri and... hugged the void. Peri had no body, it was as if she was created from thin air. The Sultan was taken aback, and the peri flew away. But love did not leave the Sultan’s heart and he, suffering, looked into the sky, calling on his beloved. She responded to his call by ordering the construction of a mausoleum so that its vault was high, and the mausoleum itself seemed light and floating in the sky. A hole had to be left in the dome through which the peri could fly to her waiting husband on the full moon. As soon as the mausoleum was built, Sultan Sanjar’s whole life turned into waiting for the full moon and the desired meeting with his beloved, who came to him through the hole in the dome.
When the Sultan died, he was buried under the dome of the mausoleum and, they say, the sad sighs of the beautiful peri can still be heard from the mausoleum on full moons. This is the story! Today, the mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar is a place of pilgrimage not only for believers, but also for all guests of Turkmenistan, including eminent ones. An American delegation led by US Deputy Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the mausoleum with us. People continue to come to Merv, again and again immersing themselves in its past, listening to stories about the long past, imagining a life long gone. And the old ruins are resurrected every day at dawn and fall back into sleep, sighing for the times when life was in full swing in them. Continued here.

In the southeastern part of the state of Turkmenistan is the oldest city in Central Asia. It stands on the banks of the Murgab River, not far from the city of Mary. Today, Ancient Merv is a ruin, which is a World Heritage Site for all mankind.

During the era of the Margiana civilization, the Merv oasis was already inhabited. This suggests that it existed for another 3-2 thousand years BC. In our era, the city became one of the main centers of Parthia. At that time its area was 60 square meters. km.

After the Arabs conquered Central Asia in the 7th century, the city became a springboard for conquest expeditions to the east and north. Over time, Merv turned into a book center for Arabs. This happened thanks to the 10 libraries that were located here.

During the reign of the Samanid dynasty, Merv truly flourished. This happened in the 12th century, when Sultan Sanjar turned it into the capital of the Seljuks. The buildings inside the city were amazing - they were more majestic than the buildings of Baghdad and Constantinople.

But already in 1221 the Mongols mercilessly destroyed the beautiful city. The Timurids made an attempt to revive Merv, but it was never able to achieve its former greatness.