Despite the fact that the city was sacked by Jenghiz Khan in 1220, when the inhabitants were said to have been slaughtered and all buildings leveled, and again by Timur in the 14th century, the traveler Marco Polo described Balkh a century later as a “noble city and great”. After Chinggis’s death in 1227, his four sons continued the expansion relentlessly. The bazaar was fascinating, a place of traditional crafts, small open-fronted shops and inviting chai-khanas (tea houses). Sources The history of Balkh, and the reports of ancient travelers, are covered in some detail by G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905; re-published by Al- Biruni, Lahore, Pakistan); and in articles on Bactria and Balkh by F. Grenet in Vol. Balkh never fully recovered, and eventually faded into a village; the seat of government shifted to scruffy but vigorous Mazar-e-Sharif. Now there is only dry scrub and low mounds of debris; here and there potsherds and broken bricks seem to call for attention. Today, the traces of Balkh’s earthen walls can still be seen over a length of some 10 kilometres, to the north of which lies a secondary fortified area, the Balu Hisar. The times that followed were turbulent ones in Central Asia. Across the park stands a tall gateway with some decorative tilework; this is all that remains of a madrassah built in the 17th century in Timurid style. If you travel with an airplane (which has average speed of 560 miles) from Balkh to Bukhara, It … Silkroad Foundation (Saratoga, California). To the north-east lie traces of extensive gardens, in which there was a large caravanserai. Afghans believe otherwise: the body of the slain Caliph, tied onto a camel’s back, was carried out to Turkestan and buried in a secret location. The Arab geographers Yaqubi and Moqaddasi (9th and 10th centuries) depict Balkh as it was under Samanid rule, whe Bukhara was the center of power. The fire temple in the suburbs, which Xuanzang had admired when it was a Buddhist monastery, was still noteworthy. Subsequent accounts from the 10th century AD indicate that the city was ringed with earthen walls, with six gates, within which was a fine citadel and a mosque. The foundation of the city of Paktra, later known as Bactria is ascribed to Kaiomars, and at an early date it was said to have rivaled urban centres such as Babylon. A small brick mosque, decorated with carved stucco survives from early Islamic times, but we failed to find it. Pop. The shrine of Khvājeh Abū Naṣr Pārsā is a remnant of its historic past. By the time the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (formerly spelled Hsuan Tsang) passed through Balkh (630 C.E.) What the visitor comes to see in Balkh is chiefly the melting walls of the old city, enclosing a vast field of rubble and wreckage; it is a place of memories rather than monuments. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Shrine of Khvājeh Abū Naṣr Pārsā, 16th century, Balkh, Afghanistan. Balkh then became the capital of Khorāsān; it enlarged greatly in size until under the ʿAbbāsids and Sāmānids its fame as a capital and centre of learning earned it the title of “mother of cities.” Balkh was completely destroyed by the Mongols under Genghis Khan in 1220. But peace was a sometime thing; even when Balkh came under Seljuk rule for over a century, the nomads were never far away. One arrives (1970) in the center of an agricultural market town, neatly planted with trees and grass, that show off two Timurid edifices. Updates? At one level, geography holds the key. Pilgrims flock to the tomb, which has a reputation for miraculous cures; and many thousands come here each spring to celebrate Naoruz, the Persian New Year. But the great shrine of the Sharif Ali, which lent the city its name, has survived the turmoil (see images). A new chapter had begun, the one that we are still living in. Moreover, the imperialistic inclinations of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran, which too was eyeing a foothold in Central Asia, made Shah Jahan want to anticipate any incursions from them. The piers and springing of the arches that once supported the domes, retain fine decorated brick and stucco work, which is stylistically similar to Abbasid decorative work found in Mesopotamia. Always a place of importance, Bactria and its capital city figure prominently in the annals of historians and travelers. Catastrophe struck in 1220, when Ghengis Khan chose to make an example of Balkh, perhaps as punishment for an uprising. Balkh sits on an alluvial fan built up by the Balkab river, well suited to irrigation. But for those who savor the melancholy pleasure of ruins, there is no more evocative site between Xian and Trebizond. It … Its reputation as a place of learning persisted, judging by accounts of travellers in the 12th century AD, who describe a range of educational establishments, as well as its importance as a trading centre for the region, with links to India and China. The earlier monuments take some searching. Five hundred years later, thanks to dreams and visions, the grave came to light and a shrine was built over it. The city was home, not only to Persians and Turks but also to communities of Jews and Indian traders. Balkh Bukhara, Phase 10, Mohali; View menu, reviews, customer ratings, customer photos, location, maps, contact number, phone number and more on magicpin. Thereafter it was the capital of the Greek satrapy of Bactria. That vision survived for another two centuries in the small Graeco-Bactrian kingdoms that thrived and quarrelled on both sides of the Hindu Kush; they wrote no history, but minted the most gorgeous silver coins of the ancient world. Of all this eventful history, little enough remains on the ground (see the images). “ From the Roman Empire the caravans brought gold and silver vessels and wine; fom Central Asia and China rubies, furs, aromatic gums, drugs, raw silk and embroidered silks; from India spices, cosmetics, ivory and precious gems of infinite variety” (Dupree, p 71). Most significantly, several natural trade routes intersect at Balkh. Ghengis Khan levelled it, but Ali’s sepulchre was rediscovered during the reign of Husain Baikara, the last Timurid Sultan of Herat, who erected a grand mausoleum on the site (1481 C.E.). By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Accounts of visitors in the 7th century AD indicate the existence of a significant number of Buddhist monasteries, stupas and other monuments in the city. (latest est.) Other remains of Balkh’s splendour include ancient Buddhist reliquary mounds and later Islamic shrines and mosques. Discerning readers will also enjoy The Light Garden of the Angel King, by Peter Levi (Collins, 1972). But then came Ghengis Khan, and wreaked upon it the utter devastation that has made the Mongols’ name a byword for barbarism. Outside of the walled city enclosure, buildings of the Buddhist period seem to have proved more durable than those of the Islamic era, with the remains of Tahkti-Rustam, the ruins of a Buddhist monastery of Nau Bahar and the associated stupa of Tepe Rustam, of which an earth-brick base of some 40 metres in diameter survives. Balkh was old long before Alexander’s raid, and its history of 2500 years records more than a score of conquerors. The remains of the building show a small structure of nine equal bays, each of which had a brick dome, all of which have collapsed. Neither Balkh nor Mazar look anything like a caravan city of the middle ages, but nearby Tashkurgan does (or did in 1970; see images). great cities of Bukhara, Nishapur, Merv, Herat, Balkh, and Gurgan, millions were reported killed, an exaggeration, but still an indication of great slaughter. For a long period Bactria was the spiritual centre for the Zoroastrian religion, as well as having a rich temple to the goddess Anahita. 7,242. Corrections? The valley of the Balkab still gives passage to Bamiyan and thence to Kabul; of all the routes across the Hindu Kush, this is the most westerly and the easiest. We found it a bustling “third-world-modern” town of straight wide streets, motor traffic, government offices and shops. Shortly afterward, at Bactra, he attempted to impose the Persian court ceremonial, involving prostration (. The modern village of Balkh is situated amid extensive ruins, chief among them the outer walls of ancient Bactra, which are more than 7 miles (11 km) in circumference. They enclose a roughly circular field almost a mile across, that probably corresponds to the central city of medieval Balkh. 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Publications World Heritage Review Series Resource Manuals World Heritage wall map More publications ... Funding World Heritage Fund International Assistance. You sit on a takht, a throne, by the side of the street, sipping your tea while puffing on a hookah, and watch the parade of Central Asia pass by. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Balkh remained in ruins for a century, and ws so described by Marco Polo (1275) and by Ibn Batuta (1333); and yet revival must have been under way, for Timur (Tamerlane) chose Balkh to proclaim his accession to the throne (1359). The entire exterior is clad in brilliant blue tile mosaic, much of which has been slowly peeling off the walls. There is nothing much to see; but I have never forgotten what it felt like, up there on those worn stumps of wall, gazing out over nothingness. What we had come to see is the walls, battered and weather-beaten but still sixty feet high in places, that enclose the Bala Hissar, the High Fort. The Arabs, impressed by Balkh’s wealth and antiquity, called it Umm-al-belad, the mother of cities. In succeeding centuries the city fell to various nomadic invaders, including the Turks and Kushāns, until it was decisively taken by the Arabs in the 8th century.