Читать книгу A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, 2 Volume Set - Группа авторов - Страница 168

The field studies are rather scarce for fixing the precise hierarchy, nature, and evolution of the archeological sites (Figure 23.1). Besides the capitals of the satrapies, the territory comprised several large cities, probably at the head of the hyparchies, as well as regional castles, not to mention the villages or isolated settlements.

Figure 23.1 Map of the eastern part of Central Asia at the moment of the fall of the Achaemenid Empire and route of Alexander the Great in 330–327 BCE according to the most recent researches.

The capitals mentioned by the classical texts have been only partly excavated: Gorgan (in Hyrcania; Zadracarta was Sari in Tapuria), Merv (Erk‐kala, founded during the early Iron Age, later named Antiochia of Margiana, while Alexandria of Margiana was possibly more to the south in the region of Kushka), Herat (Artacoana/Alexandria in Aria), Begram (Kapisa in Paropamisadai), Balkh (Bactra in Bactria), Samarkand‐Afrasiab (Maracanda or Zariaspa in Sogdiana), and Nur‐tepe near Kurkat (Cyropolis or Cyreschata in Scythia‐Ustrushana, between Zaamin/Alexandria Eskhate? and Khojent/Antiochia Scythica). The capital of Oxiana (near which Alexander probably founded his Alexandria Oxiane) was somewhere in the center of the Sherabad‐darya district, not far from Sherabad, Talashkan‐tepe, or Jandavlat‐tepe (Rapin 2018).

Though their status is not precisely established, several large cities centered on the main oases, on crossroads and strategical positions, were probably the heads of the Achaemenid hyparchies. Besides Bactra, the south of the Oxus was controlled by cities such as Altyn Dilyar, Cheshme‐Shafa (infra), and Kohna Qala (“Ville ronde”) near Ai Khanum (*Oskobara/Eucratidia) along the “Ochus” river/Darya‐i Panj. Mentioned by the Bactrian parchments and the classical sources, Khulm/Tashkurgane (Khulmi), Qunduz (Varnu/Aornos), Drapsaka in the region of Surkh‐kotal, and Hulbuk (Cholbisina) have still to be explored. In Sogdiana, two cities controlled the Kashka‐darya valley: Kiš/Nautaca near Shahr‐i Sabz (sites of Uzunkyr, Padayatak‐tepe, and Sangir‐tepe) and Nikhšapaya/Xenippa near Karshi (site of Erkurgan). Other cities are represented by Koktepe (probably ancient Gava and Gabai, capital of Sogdiana until Cyrus), Kyzyl‐tepe (Gazaba? in Paretacene), Bandykhan, etc. North‐west of Termez (later Antiochia Tharmata), sites like Shor‐tepe (Tarmantis?) near Kampyr‐tepe (later Pandokheion) controlled the principal ford on the Oxus. The situation of Chorasmia differs since its Achaemenid sites developed later.