4 History of Balkh

The changing climate has led to desertificationDesertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas into desert, resulting from various factors including climatic variations and human activities. Modern desertification often arises from the demands of increased populat since antiquity, when the region was very fertile. The antiquity and greatness of the place are recognized by the native populations, who speak of it as the Mother of Cities and claim that ZoroasterZoroaster was one of the great teachers of the East and the founder of Zoroastrianism, which was the national religion of the Perso-Iranian people from the time of the Achaemenidae to the close of the Sassanid period. The name Ζωρο& preached at Balkh and is buried there. Its foundation is mythically ascribed to Kaiomurs , the PersiaPersia is the historical name for the state of Iran. The name was used in the West due to the ancient Greek name for Iran, Persis''. Persia is used to describe the nation of Iran, its people, or its ancient empire. The name Persia comes from a province inn RomulusRomulus and Remus founders of Rome in Roman mythology, were the supposed sons of the god Mars and the priestess Rhea Silvia. Romulus is considered the first King of Rome. Their mother, Rhea Silvia, had been forced to become a Vestal Virgin by her uncle, A; and it is at least certain that, at a very early date, it was the rival of EcbatanaEcbatana Hangmatana in Old Persian, Agbatana in Aeschylus, written Aga?mtanu by Nabonidos, and Agamatanu at Behistun) was the capital of Astyages Istuveg , which was taken by Cyrus the Great in the sixth year of Nabonidos ( 549 BC). The city is now known, NinevehThis article is about the ancient Middle Eastern city of Nineveh. The name is also applied to a place in Indiana, USA: see Nineveh, Indiana. Nineveh (Assyrian city of "Ninua") was an important city in ancient Assyria, lying within the area of the modern c and BabylonBabylon was the capital city of Babylonia in Mesopotamia (in contemporary Iraq, about 70 miles south of Baghdad). The name is the Greek form of Babel which is derived in turn from the Semitic form Babilu meaning "The Gate of God". This Semitic word is a t. Bactra was conquered by Alexander the Great in 328 BCE. Its early history is at the entry Bactria.

There is a long-standing tradition that an ancient shrine of Anahita was to be found here, a temple so rich it invited plunder.

For a long time the city and country was the central seat of the Zoroastrian religion, the founder of which, Zoroaster, died within the walls, according to the Persian poet Firdousi. In a fire-temple of Balkh, later converted to a Buddhist temple and given the name of Nava Vihara (Navbahar) in Persian chronicles, the Kashmiri Brahmins called Pramukh kept the lamps burning.

From the Memoirs of Hsuan Tsang, we learn that, at the time of his visit in the 7th century, there were in the city, or its vicinity, about a hundred Buddhist convents, with 3,000 devotees, and that there was a large number of stupas, and other religious monuments. The most remarkable was the Nau Behar, (avci Bihara or New Convent), which possessed a very costly statue of Buddha. A curious notice of this building is found in the Arabian geographer Yaqtit Ibn-Haukal , an Arabian traveler of the 10th century, who describes Balkh as built of clay, with ramparts and six gates, and extending half a parasang. He also mentions a castle and a mosque.

At the time of the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century, however, Balkh had provided an outpost of resistance and a safe haven for the Persian emperor Yedzgird who fled there from the armies of Umar.

Ibn Sina ("Avicenna"), a Tajik born in Balkh in 980 CE, was the most celebrated philosopher-scientist of his time. He is particularly known for his contributions in the field of Aristotelian philosophy and medicine. His works found their way to Toledo, Spain, where they were copied and translated and influenced the rise of Aristotelian philosophy in 12th-century Europe. Idrisi, in the 12th century, speaks of its possessing a variety of educational establishments, and carrying on an active trade. There were several important commercial routes from the city, stretching as far east as India and China.

In 1220 Jenghiz Khan sacked Balkh, butchered its inhabitants and levelled all the buildings capable of defense — treatment to which it was again subjected in the 14th century by Timur. Notwithstanding this, however, Marco Polo could still, in the following century, describe it as "a noble city and a great."

In the 16th century the Uzbek entered Balkh. The Moghul Shah Jahan fruitlessly fought them there for several years in the 1640s. Balkh formed the government seat of Aurangzeb in his youth. In 1736 it was conquered by Nadir Shah. Under the Durani monarchy it fell into the hands of the Afghans; it was conquered by Shah Murad of Kunduz in 1820, and for some time was subject to the khan of Bokhara. In 1850 Mahommed Akram Khan , Barakzai, captured Balkh, and from that time it remained under Afghan rule.

5 External links

• Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911
• Daud Saba's brief description
• Tajik poets and others, many connected with Balkh.

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