Читать книгу A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, 2 Volume Set - Группа авторов - Страница 169

The reconstitution of the political, social, and economic institutions relies on rare excavated sites (Figure 23.2). The study is mainly limited to military features represented by a citadel and large lines of fortifications (Afrasiab, Erkurgan, Uzunkyr, Koktepe, etc.), which not only englobed the proper monumental quarters but in times of danger had to shelter also the population of the region and the herds (these sites must be distinguished from the temporary fortresses or “rocks” occupied by the last Achaemenid Sogdian governors who opposed Alexander near the Iron Gates: Rapin 2018). The later Hellenistic cities like Ai Khanum reflected the same urban guidelines.

Figure 23.2 General plan of Koktepe/Gava (Sogdiana). Koktepe II (last pre‐Achaemenid period): A and B) large monuments (A: sanctuary; A2: altar?). Koktepe III (Achaemenid period): C: central sacred platform; D: southeastern platform. Koktepe IV (early Hellenistic period); E: fortification; F: barracks.

Mirroring the best explored Achaemenid cities to the south of the Oxus (Altyn 10 in Bactria with its close parallel of Dahan‐i Ghulaman in Seistan), the site of Koktepe provides an example of long‐term urban development of the northern areas, in both agricultural and nomadic contexts (Rapin and Isamiddinov 2013).

Since the artifacts do not usually provide easy benchmarks in absolute chronology, the analysis relies on the stratigraphy, mainly on the changes which affected monumental architecture of fortifications, palaces, and sanctuaries during the successive political transitions. Established on a natural plateau near the Bulungur canal to the north of Samarkand, the earliest urban settlement of Koktepe appeared in the Yaz I agricultural context. It is not clear whether the city was fortified like the similar sites of Chust and Dalverzin‐tepe in Ferghana, but its regional importance was enhanced by the presence of apparently “official” monuments and a dense habitat. After it was abandoned, the site was devoted to pastoral activities for a couple of centuries.

Before the Achaemenids, Koktepe (Koktepe II period) appears as the major settlement of the Zeravshan, probably under the name of Gava, one of the cities mentioned in the early Avestan geography. Two large fortified courtyards appear on the plateau, one of religious function and the other, later complemented by a row of large rooms, grouping probably political, administrative, and economic functions. These buildings sheltered the primitive institutions of a “proto‐urban” organization in the context of a regional power which probably emanated from the sedentarization of the Scythians and evolved into a first stage of the Sogdian state. A thick fortification several kilometers long around the plateau must probably be attributed to this period (rather than to the Achaemenids who later, probably under Darius I, fortified Afrasiab itself on a length of more than 5.5 km). It is not excluded that the other oases followed a parallel process, for instance in the Kashka‐darya (ancient Kiš) and along the Kopet Dagh (fortification program of El’ken‐depe III, “Median” architecture of Ulug‐depe I: Lecomte 2013).

From an archeological point of view, the transition toward the Achaemenids is rarely attested. Some sites are then abandoned (for example, Ulug‐depe). At Koktepe the transition occurred apparently through a drastic change of architectural patterns marked by the erection of two platform buildings, the southeastern one having been built a little later than the central one (Koktepe III architectural phase). This renewal of the symbols of authority coincides probably with the takeover of the region by Cyrus and Darius I. At the end of the Achaemenid period, however, Koktepe was no more than a regional fortress (known by the historian Arrian under the name of Gabae), while Afrasiab‐Maracanda had reached the primacy between Zeravshan (the ancient Zariaspes/Polytimetus) and the Dargom canal (Dargomanes of Claudius Ptolemy).

The life of the main cities was partially interrupted during the first decades of the Macedonian power. Afrasiab and Koktepe are among the rare sites which present continuity as regards the location between the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods, since several cities were rebuilt on adjacent sites during the Seleucid era.