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88-963: Dari is a name given to the New Persian language since the 10th century , widely used in Arabic (see Istakhri , al-Maqdisi and ibn Hawqal ) and Persian texts. Since 1964, Dari has been the official name in Afghanistan for the Persian spoken there. New Persian is a member of the Western Iranian group of the Iranian languages , which make up a branch of the Indo-European languages in their Indo-Iranian subdivision . The Western Iranian languages themselves are divided into two subgroups: Southwestern Iranian languages, of which Persian

176-452: A day's journey away. In 1221, the city opened its gates to an invading Mongol horde, resulting in massive devastation . Historical accounts contend that the entire population (including refugees) were killed; Tolui Khan is reputed to have slaughtered 700,000 people. Though partly rebuilt after the Mongol destruction, the city never regained its former prosperity. Between 1788 and 1789,

264-440: A Persian nobleman restored a large dam (the "Soltanbent") on the river Murghab , and the settlement which grew up in the irrigated area became known as Baýramaly , as referenced in some 19th-century texts. After Shah Ismail's death, the region became a dependency of Khiva , but in 1593 Merv was conquered by Abdullah Khan II of Bukhara . The city was soon captured by Shah Abbas, and a Safavid governor (Biktash Khan Ustajlu)

352-417: A dictionary called Words of Scientific Association ( لغت انجمن علمی ), which was completed in the future and renamed Katouzian Dictionary ( فرهنگ کاتوزیان ). The first academy for the Persian language was founded on 20 May 1935, under the name Academy of Iran . It was established by the initiative of Reza Shah Pahlavi , and mainly by Hekmat e Shirazi and Mohammad Ali Foroughi , all prominent names in

440-577: A joint team of archaeologists from Turkmenistan and the UK have made remarkable discoveries. In 2001, the Institute 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

528-480: 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. Another notable Seljuk structure within the Shahryar Ark is the kepderihana (from the Persian, " Kaftar Khaneh ", or "pigeon house", i.e., the columbarium ). This mysterious building, among the best-preserved in

616-417: A literary language considerably different from the spoken Persian of the time. This became the basis of what is now known as "Contemporary Standard Persian". There are three standard varieties of modern Persian: All these three varieties are based on the classic Persian literature and its literary tradition. There are also several local dialects from Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan which slightly differ from

704-770: A major mosque that contained 12,000 volumes. As the caliphate weakened, Persian general Tahir b. al -Husayn and his Tahirid dynasty replaced Arab rule in Merv in 821. The Tahirids ruled Merv from 821 to 873, followed by the Saffarids , then the Samanids and later the Ghaznavids . In 1037, the Seljuq Turkmens , a clan of Oghuz Turks moving from the steppes east of the Aral Sea , peacefully took over Merv under

792-544: A notice attributed to Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (cited by Ibn al-Nadim in Al-Fehrest ). According to him, " Pārsī was the language spoken by priests, scholars, and the like; it is the language of Fars ." This language refers to the Middle Persian . As for Dari , he says, "it is the language of the cities of Madā'en; it is spoken by those who are at the king's court. [Its name] is connected with presence at court. Among

880-486: A number of years working at the observatory in Merv. As Persian geographer and traveller al-Istakhri wrote of Merv: "Of all the countries of Iran , these people were noted for their talents and education." Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi counted as many as 10 giant libraries in Merv, including one within a major mosque that contained 12,000 volumes. Merv was also a popular place for pilgrimage , and several religions considered it holy. In Zoroastrianism , Merv (Mouru)

968-690: A place of some importance: under the name of Margu , it occurs as part of one satrapy in the Behistun inscriptions (c. 515 BC) of the Persian monarch Darius the Great . The first city of Merv was founded in the 6th century BC as part of the Achaemenid expansion into the region of Cyrus the Great (559–530 BC), but later strata deeply cover the Achaemenid levels at the site. Alexander

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1056-717: A substantial Christian community. In 1009, the Archbishop of Merv sent a letter to the Patriarch at Baghdad asking that the Keraites be allowed to fast less than other Nestorian Christians. Great Persian polymath Omar Khayyam , among others, spent several years working at the observatory in Merv. As Persian geographer and traveller al-Istakhri wrote of Merv: "Of all the countries of Iran , these people were noted for their talents and education." Yaqut al-Hamawi counted as many as 10 giant libraries in Merv, including one within

1144-478: Is evidence of Merv's importance during the pre-Islamic era; no pre-Islamic fortifications of comparable size have been found anywhere in the Garagum . 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

1232-650: Is extremely soft." The Islamic world admired the elegant robes and silk turbans produced in Merv. The city was notable as a home for immigrants from the Arab lands and those from Sogdia and elsewhere in Central Asia. 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 the Abbasids . A descendant of

1320-581: Is the most widely spoken, and Northwestern Iranian languages, of which Kurdish is the most widely spoken. "New Persian" is the name given to the final stage of development of Persian language. The term Persian is an English derivation of Latin Persiānus , the adjectival form of Persia , itself deriving from Greek Persís ( Περσίς ), a Hellenized form of Old Persian Pārsa ( 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 ), which means " Persia " (a region in southwestern Iran corresponding to modern-day Fars province ). According to

1408-400: 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 a World Heritage Site . Merv has prehistoric roots: archaeological surveys have revealed many traces of village life as far back as

1496-603: The Encyclopædia Iranica notes that the Iranian, Afghan and Tajiki varieties comprise distinct branches of the Persian language, and within each branch a wide variety of local dialects exist. The following are some languages closely related to Persian, or in some cases are considered dialects: Standard Persian is the standard variety of Persian that is the official language of the Iran and Tajikistan and one of

1584-458: The Kalila wa Dimna . The language spread geographically from the 11th century on and was the medium through which among others, Central Asian Turks became familiar with Islam and urban culture. New Persian was widely used as a trans-regional lingua franca , a task for which it was particularly suitable due to its relatively simple morphological structure and this situation persisted until at least

1672-597: The Oxford English Dictionary , the term Persian as a language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. There are different opinions about the origin of the word Dari . The majority of scholars believes Dari refers to the Persian word dar or darbār "court" ( دربار ) as it was the formal language of the Sasanian dynasty . The original meaning of the word dari is given in

1760-477: The Achaemenid Empire , it was the center of the satrapy of Margiana . It was subsequently ruled by Hellenistic Kings , Parthians , Sasanians , Arabs , Ghaznavids , Seljuqs , Khwarazmians and Timurids , among others. Merv was the capital city of several polities throughout its history. In the beginning of the 9th century, Merv was the seat of the caliph al-Ma'mun and the capital of

1848-633: The Amu Darya pillaged the city. Subsequently, Merv changed hands from the Turkmen nomads to the Ghurids in 1192, and to the Khwarizmians in 1204. According to Tertius Chandler , by 1150 Merv was the world's largest city, with a population of 200,000. By 1210, it may have had as many as 500,000 residents, preceding such medieval metropolises as Constantinople and Baghdad. In 1221, Merv opened its gates to Tolui , son of Genghis Khan , chief of

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1936-771: The First Bulgarian Empire , as well as the Holy Roman Empire during the Ottonian Renaissance . The historian Lynn White mentions of the period that "to the modern eye, it is very nearly the darkest of the Dark Ages ... if it was dark, it was the darkness of the womb". Caesar Baronius famously described it as the Iron Century, because it was 'iron in its harshness and in its sterility of goodness', while Lorenzo Valla gave it

2024-544: The Hellenistic and Sassanian metropolis and also served as an industrial suburb to the Abbasid/Seljuk city, Soltangala—by far the largest of the three. The smaller Timurid 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

2112-797: The Ilkhanate , and it was consistently looted by Chagatai 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 the Kartids , vassals of the Ilkhanids. By 1380, Merv belonged to the empire of Timur (Tamerlane). In 1505, the Uzbeks occupied Merv; five years later, Shah Ismail , the founder of the Safavid dynasty of Iran, expelled them. In this period,

2200-516: The Mongols . Most of the inhabitants are said to have been butchered. Arab historian Ibn 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

2288-629: The Sultanate of Rum , Delhi Sultanate , the Shirvanshahs , Safavids , Afsharids , Zands , Qajars , Khanate of Bukhara , Khanate of Kokand , Emirate of Bukhara , Khanate of Khiva , Ottomans and also many Mughal successors such as the Nizam of Hyderabad . Persian was the only non-European language known and used by Marco Polo at the Court of Kublai Khan and in his journeys through China. In

2376-680: The Tang dynasty and the following Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period . The Muslim World experienced a cultural zenith , especially in al-Andalus under the Caliphate of Córdoba and in the Samanid Empire under Ismail Samani . The Abbasid Caliphate continued to exist but with reduced central authority. Additionally, there was a cultural flourishing for the Byzantine Empire , which also reconquered some lost territories, and

2464-648: The " Persianized " Turko-Mongol dynasties during the 12th to 15th centuries, and under restored Persian rule during the 16th to 19th centuries. Persian during this time served as lingua franca of Greater Persia and of much of the Indian subcontinent . It was also the official and cultural language of many Islamic dynasties, including the Samanids, Buyids , Tahirids , Ziyarids , the Mughal Empire , Timurids , Ghaznavids , Karakhanids , Seljuqs , Khwarazmians ,

2552-562: The "capital of the eastern Islamic world". Written sources also attest to a large library and madrasa founded by Nizam 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". Sanjar's rule, marked by conflict with the Kara-Khitai and Khwarazmians , ended in 1153 when Turkmen nomads from beyond

2640-459: The 12th century. During this period Merv, like Samarqand and Bukhara, functioned as one of the great cities of Muslim scholarship; the celebrated historian Yaqut (1179–1229) studied in its libraries. Merv produced a number of scholars in various branches of knowledge, such as Islamic law , hadith , history, and literature. Several scholars have the name "Marwazi" (المروزي) designating them as hailing from Merv. The city continued to have

2728-582: The 19th century, under the Qajar dynasty , the dialect that is spoken in Tehran rose to prominence. There was still substantial Arabic vocabulary, but many of these words have been integrated into Persian phonology and grammar. In addition, under the Qajar rule numerous Russian , French , and English terms entered the Persian language, especially vocabulary related to technology. The first official attentions to

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2816-472: The 19th century. In the late Middle Ages, new Islamic literary languages were created on the Persian model: Ottoman Turkish , Chagatai , Dobhashi and Urdu, which are regarded as "structural daughter languages" of Persian. "Classical Persian" loosely refers to the standardized language of medieval Persia used in literature and poetry . This is the language of the 10th to 12th centuries, which continued to be used as literary language and lingua franca under

2904-637: The 3rd millennium BC and have associated the area culturally with the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex . The geography of the Zend-Avesta (commentaries on the Avesta ) mentions Merv (under the name of Mouru ) along with Balkh . In Zoroastrianism , the god Ahura Mazda created Mouru as one of sixteen perfect lands. Under the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC), the historical record mentions Merv as

2992-530: The 9th-century. The language is a direct descendant of Middle Persian, the official, religious and literary language of the Sasanian Empire (224–651). However, it is not descended from the literary form of Middle Persian (known as pārsīk , commonly called Pahlavi), which was spoken by the people of Fars and used in Zoroastrian religious writings. Instead, it is descended from the dialect spoken by

3080-459: 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". Merv was also known for its high-quality textiles. A 12th-century Arab geographer al-Idrisi noted: "From this country is derived much silk as well as cotton of a superior quality under the name of Merv cotton, which

3168-706: The Bukharan oasis and the Samarkand region in the Zarafshan Valley. Being the last remaining Persian-speaking Shias , the deportees resisted assimilation into the Sunni population of Bukhara and Samarkand, despite the common Persian language they spoke with most natives. These Marvis survive as of 2016 —Soviet censuses listed them as " Iranis /Iranians" through the 1980s. They live in Samarkand and Bukhara and

3256-513: The Great 's visit to Merv is merely legendary, but the city was named Alexandria ( Ἀλεξάνδρεια ) after him for a time. After his death in 323 BC, it became the capital of the Province of Margiana of the Seleucid , Greco-Bactrian (256–125 BC), Parthian , and Sassanid states. The Seleucid ruler Antiochus Soter (reigned 281–261 BC) renamed it to Antiochia Margiana. He rebuilt and expanded

3344-793: The Hellenistic city and later the Arc of the Islamic city. The foundation of Gäwürgala (Turkmen from the Persian " Gabr Qala", "Fortress of the Zoroastrians ") occurred in the early Hellenistic era under the rule of the Seleucid king Antiochus I . The city was continuously inhabited under a series of Hellenistic rulers, by the Parthians , and then under the Sassanids, who made it

3432-463: The Islamic prophet Muhammad , 8th Imam of Twelver 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 by al-Muqanna , the "Veiled Prophet", who gained many followers by claiming to be an incarnation of God and heir to Abu Muslim; the Khurramiyya inspired by him, persisted in Merv until

3520-591: 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 axial iwans at the entrance to each side. Low areas nearby seem to indicate

3608-627: The Tekkes' advance, but in about 1856, the latter became the sovereign power in the country, and remained so until the Russians occupied the oasis in 1884. By 1868, the Russians had taken most of what would become Russian Central Asia except Turkmenistan . The Russians approached this area from the Caspian, and in 1881, they captured Geok Tepe in one of the bloodiest battles in the region . Much of

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3696-423: 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 the Abbasid 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

3784-414: The area in 1900. Valentin Alekseevich Zhukovsky of the Imperial Archaeological Commission directed the first fully professional dig in 1890 and published in 1894. Geologist Raphael Pumpelly and a German archaeologist, Hubert Schmidt, directed the American Carnegie Institute's excavations. Merv is the focus of the Ancient Merv Project (initially called the International Merv Project). From 1992 to 2000,

3872-449: The area in between on the Zarafshan river. They are listed as Persian speaking but counted separately from the local Tajiks because of their Shia religion and their maintaining of their ancient Mervi identity. Merv passed to the Khanate of Khiva in 1823. Sir Alexander Burnes traversed the country in 1832. About this time, the Persians forced the Tekke Turkmens , then living on the Tejen River , to migrate northward. Khiva contested

3960-421: 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. 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

4048-425: 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;

4136-509: The city at the site presently known as Gyaur Gala fortress. Isidore of Charax wrote Antiochia was called the "unwatered" ( Ἄνυδρος ). After the fall of the Seleucid dynasty (63 BC), Bactria , Parthia, and the Kushans took control in succession. In 53 BC, some 10,000 Roman prisoners of war from the Battle of Carrhae appear to have been deported to Merv. Merv was a major city of Buddhist learning, with Buddhist monastery temples for many centuries until its Islamisation. At

4224-413: The city was razed by Shah Murad of the Emirate of Bukhara for the last time, and its population deported. By the 1800s, under pressure from the Russians, the area surrounding Merv was completely deserted. Today the site is preserved by the Government of Turkmenistan as the State Historical and Cultural Park "Ancient Merv". It was established in 1987 and is regulated by Turkmenistan's legislation. It

4312-437: The civilian population that was unable to flee was later massacred by the Russian troops. The Russians further occupied the oasis of Tejen , eighty miles to the west. The next Russian move was south toward Herat . By 1888, the city was entirely abandoned. A future viceroy of British 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,

4400-487: The court of the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon and the northeastern Iranian region of Khorasan , known as Dari. Khorasan, which was the homeland of the Parthians, was Persianized under the Sasanians. Dari Persian thus supplanted the Parthian language , which by the end of the Sasanian era had fallen out of use. New Persian has incorporated many foreign words, including from eastern northern and northern Iranian languages such as Sogdian and especially Parthian. The mastery of

4488-490: The entire Islamic caliphate . It served later as the seat of the Tahirid governors of Khorasan . In the 11th–12th centuries, Merv was the capital of the Great Seljuk Empire and remained so until the latter's ultimate fall. Around this time, Merv turned into a chief centre of Islamic science and culture , attracting as well as producing renowned poets, musicians, physicians, mathematicians and astronomers. The great Persian polymath Omar Khayyam , among others, spent

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4576-438: 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 in Anatolia , 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

4664-400: The figure at more than 1,300,000. Each individual soldier of the conquering army "was allotted the execution of three to four hundred persons", many of those soldiers being levies from Sarakhs who, because of their town's enmity toward Merv, "exceeded the ferocity of the heathen Mongols in the slaughter of their fellow-Muslims." Almost the entire population of Merv, and refugees arriving from

4752-585: 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 Abbasid köşk 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's kushks are in precarious states of preservation. However,

4840-426: The languages of the people of Khorasan and the east, the language of the people of Balkh is predominant." New Persian is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian remains largely intelligible to speakers of Contemporary Persian, as the morphology and, to a lesser extent, the lexicon of the language have remained relatively stable. New Persian texts written in the Arabic script first appear in

4928-420: 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 the Umayyad province of Khorasan . In 671, Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan sent 50,000 Arab troops to Merv as a colony. This colony retained its native Kufan sympathies and became

5016-414: The latter at the Tomb of Ahmad Sanjar . Nearing the end of the 11th century, Merv became the eastern capital of the split Seljuq state . However, starting from 1118, it served as the capital of the whole empire. 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

5104-421: The leadership of Tughril —the Ghaznavid sultan Mas'ud I was extremely unpopular in the city. Tughril's brother Chaghri stayed in Merv as the Seljuq domains grew to include the rest of Khurasan and Iran, and it subsequently became a favourite city of the Seljuq sultans. Chaghri, his son Alp Arslan (sultan from 1063 to 1072) and great-grandson Ahmad Sanjar (sultan from 1118 to 1157) were buried at Merv,

5192-474: The local Qajars in the region declared independence and formed the Qajar Principality of Merv . In 1785, the Manghit amir of Bukhara, Shah Murad , attacked the city and killed the ruler, Bayram 'Ali Khan Qajar. 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. The entire population of the city and the surrounding oasis of about 100,000 were then deported in several stages to

5280-400: The modern village of Baýramaly and 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of the large Soviet-built city of Mary. 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 the oasis on the Murghab River . The Erk Gala fortress later served as the acropolis for

5368-420: The most important of Soltangala's surviving buildings are Seljuq constructions. Seljuq leader Toghrul'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. Evidence of this prosperity is found throughout the Soltangala. Many of these buildings are concentrated in Soltangala's citadel,

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5456-412: The nationalist movement of the time. The academy was a key institution in the struggle to re-build Iran as a nation-state after the collapse of the Qajar dynasty. During the 1930s and 1940s, the academy led massive campaigns to replace the many Arabic , Russian , French , and Greek loanwords whose widespread use in Persian during the centuries preceding the foundation of the Pahlavi dynasty had created

5544-446: The necessity of protecting the Persian language against foreign words, and to the standardization of Persian orthography , were under the reign of Naser ed Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1871. After Naser ed Din Shah, Mozaffar ed Din Shah ordered the establishment of the first Persian association in 1903. This association officially declared that it used Persian and Arabic as acceptable sources for coining words. The ultimate goal

5632-424: The newer speech having now been transformed from Middle into New Persian was already complete by the era of the three princely dynasties of Iranian origin, the Tahirid dynasty (820–872), Saffarid dynasty (860–903) and Samanid Empire (874–999), and could develop only in range and power of expression. Abbas of Merv is mentioned as being the earliest minstrel to chant verse in the newer Persian tongue and after him

5720-423: The nucleus of Khurasan. Using the city as their base, the Arabs, led by Qutayba ibn Muslim from 705 to 715, brought large parts of Central Asia, including Balkh , Bukhara , and Fergana under subjection. Merv, and Khorasan, in general, became one of the first parts of the Persian -speaking world to become majority- Muslim . Arab immigration to the area was substantial. A Chinese man captured at Talas, Du Huan ,

5808-513: The official Sassanid Zoroastrianism , including Buddhists, Manichaeans , and Christians of the Church of the East . Between the 5th and 11th centuries, Merv served as the seat of an East Syrian metropolitan province . The first bishop was Barshabba (c.360/424). The Hephthalite occupation from the end of the 5th century to 565 AD briefly interrupted Sassanid rule. Khuzestan Central Persia Caucasus Pars Khorasan Other geographies Sassanian rule ended when

5896-427: The other parts of the Khwarazmian Empire , were slaughtered, making it one of the bloodiest captures of a city in world history. 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

5984-534: The poems of Hanzala Badghisi were among the most famous between the Persian-speakers of the time. The first poems of the Persian language, a language historically called Dari, emerged in Afghanistan. The first significant Persian poet was Rudaki . He flourished in the 10th century, when the Samanids were at the height of their power. His reputation as a court poet and as an accomplished musician and singer has survived, although little of his poetry has been preserved. Among his lost works are versified fables collected in

6072-468: The results of the work to the widest possible audience. 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

6160-483: The similar name "Age of Lead and Iron". Merv Merv ( Turkmen : Merw , Мерв , مرو ; Persian : مرو , romanized :  Marv ), also known as the Merve Oasis , was a major Iranian city in Central Asia , on the historical Silk Road , near today's Mary, Turkmenistan . Human settlements on the site of Merv existed from the 3rd millennium BC until the 18th century AD. It changed hands repeatedly throughout history. Under

6248-435: The site of Gyaur Kala and Baýramaly , Buddhism was followed and practised often at the local Buddhist stupas . After the Sasanid Ardashir I (220–240 AD) took Merv, the study of numismatics 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

6336-538: 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." Some exploratory excavations at Merv were conducted in 1885 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

6424-767: The standard Persian. The Hazaragi dialect (in Central Afghanistan and Pakistan), Herati (in Western Afghanistan), Darwazi (in Afghanistan and Tajikistan), Basseri (in Southern Iran), and the Tehrani accent (in Iran, the basis of standard Iranian Persian) are examples of these dialects. Persian-speaking peoples of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan can understand one another with a relatively high degree of mutual intelligibility . Nevertheless,

6512-467: The start of the Abbasid dynasty, Gäwürgala persisted as a suburb of the larger Soltangala. In Gäwürgala 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. Soltangala (from "Sultan Qala",

6600-508: The structures in Merv is the 12th-century mausoleum of Sultan 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

6688-525: 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 the Gäwürgala walls, in what then became Soltangala. The area was quickly walled and became the core of medieval Merv; the many Abbasid-era köshks (fortified building) discovered in and outside Soltangala attest to

6776-555: The three are based on the Tehrani , Kabuli , and Bukharan varieties, respectively. 10th century The 10th century was the period from 901 (represented by the Roman numerals CMI) through 1000 (M) in accordance with the Julian calendar , and the last century of the 1st millennium . In China, the Song dynasty was established, with most of China reuniting after the fall of

6864-449: The two official languages of Afghanistan . It is a set of spoken and written formal varieties used by the educated persophones of several nations around the world. As Persian is a pluricentric language , Standard Persian encompasses various linguistic norms (consisting of prescribed usage ). Standard Persian practically has three standard varieties with official status in Iran , Afghanistan , and Tajikistan . The standard forms of

6952-496: The whole Merv oasis, comprises one long and narrow windowless room with many tiers of niches across the walls. Some sources Believe the kepter 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 the kepderihanas as libraries or treasuries, because of their location in high status areas next to important structures. The best-preserved of all

7040-487: 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. A Persian historian, Juvayni , put

7128-572: Was appointed to the governorship in 1600. In 1608, Mihrab Khan Qajar became governor, beginning two centuries of Qajar governorship over Merv. 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. After Nader Shah's death,

7216-452: Was born and started his movement in Merv. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Merv may have been the world's largest city, 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 geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi , the city and its structures were visible from

7304-511: Was brought to Baghdad and toured the caliphate. He observed that in Merv, Khurasan, Arabs and Persians lived in mixed concentrations. Merv gained renewed importance in February 748 when the Iranian general Abu Muslim (d. 755) declared a new Abbasid dynasty at Merv, expanding and re-founding the city, and, in the name of the Abbasid line, used the city as a base of rebellion against

7392-562: Was in the 12th century. A final set of Seljuq 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

7480-491: Was one of 16 perfect lands created by god Ahura Mazda . Between the 5th and 11th centuries, Merv served as the seat of an East Syrian metropolitan province . A descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad , 8th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam , Ali ar-Ridha , moved to Merv from Baghdad and resided there for several years. Al-Muqanna , the "Veiled Prophet", who gained many followers by claiming to be an incarnation of God,

7568-598: Was one of the most important political figures of the Caliphate . The influential Barmakid family, based in Merv, played an important part in transferring Greek knowledge (established in Merv since the days of the Seleucids and Greco-Bactrians ) into the Arab world. Throughout the Abbasid era, Merv remained the capital and most important city of Khurasan. During this time, the Arab historian Al-Muqaddasi (c. 945/946–991) called Merv "delightful, fine, elegant, brilliant, extensive, and pleasant". Merv's architecture inspired

7656-491: Was to prevent books from being printed with wrong use of words. According to the executive guarantee of this association, the government was responsible for wrongfully printed books. Words coined by this association, such as rāh-āhan ( راه‌آهن ) for "railway", were printed in Soltani Newspaper ; but the association was eventually closed due to inattention. A scientific association was founded in 1911, resulting in

7744-427: 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

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