Panjakent () or Penjikent () is a city in the

Sughd Sughd Province, also referred to as the Sogdia Region, and Leninabad before 2001, is one of the four administrative divisions and one of the three provinces of Tajikistan, provinces that make up Tajikistan. Centered in the historical Sogdiana, it ...

province of

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

on the river Zeravshan, with a population of 52,500 (2020 estimate). It was once an ancient town in

Sogdiana Sogdia () or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid Empire, and l ...

. The ruins of the old town are on the outskirts of the modern city. The Sarazm Important Bird Area lies downstream of the city on the

tugay Tugay is a form of riparian forest or woodland associated with fluvial and floodplain areas in arid climates. These wetlands are subject to periodic inundation, and largely dependent on floods and groundwater rather than directly from rainfal ...

-vegetated

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

of the river.

History

Ancient Panjakent was a small but flourishing town of the

Sogdians :''This category lists articles related to historical Iranian peoples'' Historical Peoples Iranian Iranian Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian arch ...

in pre-Islamic Central Asia. It was known as Panchekanth. It means five towns (villages) in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. The ethnic and territorial name "Soghd/Soghdian" or Sughd/Sughdian was mentioned in history as early as the Iranian

Achaemenid dynasty The Achaemenid dynasty ( ; ; ; ) was a royal house that ruled the Achaemenid Empire, which eventually stretched from Egypt and Thrace in the west to Central Asia and the Indus Valley in the east. Origins The history of the Achaemenid dy ...

(6th century BC). The Achaemenids founded several city-states, as well as cities along the ancient

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

and in the Zarafshan valley. Caryatid Panjakent MNAT Rest1418

The town grew in the 5th century AD and many professionals such as established businessmen and landowners made their livelihoods in Panjakent. In AD 722,

Arab Muslims Arab Muslims () are the Arabs who adhere to Islam. They are the largest subdivision of the Arab people and the largest ethnic group among Muslims globally, followed by Bengalis and Punjabis. Likewise, they comprise the majority of the population ...

forces besieged and took the town. The last ruler of the town

Divashtich Divashtich (also spelled Devashtich, Dewashtich, and Divasti), was a medieval Sogdian ruler in Transoxiana during the period of the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. He was the ruler of Panjikant and its surroundings from ca. 706 until his downfall ...

fled into upper Zarafshan but he was captured and sentenced to death. For around 50 years, ancient Panjakent was ruled by new administrators but towards the end of the 8th century the town on the upper terraces was depopulated and relocated. Many ancient ruins of the old city, particularly the city architecture and works of art remain today. It is important to note, that the Sogdians settled in a number of the city states Zeravashan alley and the surrounding oases clustered mostly around the Samarkand. Those city states had a strong rivalry between themselves, with their own traditions rules and ruling families, creatin g a very decentralised polytical system. Similarly the city of Panjakent was located around 90 km away from Samarkand and was a vassal state to Samarkand though it still had a vibrant and prosperous economy. Numerous records of a Penjikent rulership, written in Sogdian, were located not far of Penjikent on Mount Mug. Through their reading of these texts, the public of Central Asia in the 8th century will judge on social, economic and political life. Penjikent in Tajikistan

According to Arab geographers, Panjakent in the 10th century had a formal Friday

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

that distinguished the place as a town from a village. It was the easternmost city of Soghd, and became well known for its

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

s. Russian archaeologist

Boris Marshak Boris Ilich Marshak (; 9 July 1933 – 28 July 2006) was an archeologist who spent more than fifty years excavating the Sogdian ruins at Panjakent, Tajikistan. Biography Boris Ilich Marshak was born in Luga, Leningrad Oblast, Russian SFSR ...

spent more than fifty years excavating the ruins at Panjakent. He remained there even after Tajik independence as director of the excavation of the Panjakent ruins, during the years of

Civil War in Tajikistan The Tajikistani Civil War,, group=pron also known as the Tajik Civil War, began in May 1992 and ended in June 1997. Regional groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan regions of Tajikistan rose up against the newly formed government of Preside ...

from 1992 to 1997. Through close cooperation with the

government of Tajikistan The politics of Tajikistan nominally takes place in a framework of a presidential system, presidential republic, whereby the President of Tajikistan, President is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Legislati ...

, Marshak ensured the protection and continued excavation of the Panjakent ruins.

Ancient murals and artifacts

Numerous murals were recovered from the site of Panjikent, and many of them are now on display in the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

and in the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan in

Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...

. A great variety influences are visible in the paintings, which show details of dress and daily life: Greek decorative styles encounter the Iranian narratives of the

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

and the epic cycle of

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, scenes of festivities alternate with depictions of combats, local cults mix with Iranian and

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

deities.

Shaivism Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Para Brahman, supreme being. It is the Hinduism#Demographics, second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million H ...

was popular in Sogdiana and Eastern Turkestan as found from the wall painting from Penjikent on the river Zervashan. In this depiction,

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

is portrayed with a sacred halo and a sacred thread ("Yajnopavita"). He is clad in a tigerskin while his attendants are wearing Sogdian dress. There is a depiction of him four-legged seated cross-legged on a cushioned seat supported by two bulls. The production of paintings started in the 5th century AD and stopped in 722 AD with the invasion of the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...

, and many works of art were damaged or destroyed at that time. File:Chinese-style coinage of the rulers of Penjikent, Tajikistan, 7-8th century CE.jpg, Chinese-style coinage of the rulers of Penjikent, Tajikistan, 7-8th century CE File:Bracteate_she-wolf_NMAT_KP208-243_(cropped).jpg, She-wolf suckling two infants ("

Romulus and Remus In Roman mythology, Romulus and (, ) are twins in mythology, twin brothers whose story tells of the events that led to the Founding of Rome, founding of the History of Rome, city of Rome and the Roman Kingdom by Romulus, following his frat ...

"), Penjikent, 5th century CE, National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan (KP 208–243). File:Uma-Maheshvara, Shiva with spouse Uma riding the bull Nandi, Penjikent Temple II, 690-722 CE, Tajikistan National Museum of Antiquities (60).jpg, '' Uma-Maheshvara'':

ithyphallic A phallus (: phalli or phalluses) is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history, a figure with an erect penis is described as ''ithyphallic''. Any object that symbo ...

with spouse

Uma Uma may refer to: Religion * Uma (goddess), a Hindu goddess also known as Parvati or Gauri People * Uma (given name), including a list of people with the name * Uma (actress) (Uma Shankari, fl from 2000), Indian actress Nature * ''Uma'' (liza ...

riding the bull Nandi, Penjikent Temple II, 690-722 CE, National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan (60). File:Penjikent, figures with halos.jpg, Penjikent, figures with halos,

File:Hommes au banquet, pigment sur plâtre, Penjikent, Tadjikistan.jpg, Men banquet, pigment on plaster. Pendjikent, Tajikistan File:Panjikent mural (6th-7th century CE).jpg, Panjikent mural (6th-7th century AD).

File:Panjakent (Panjīkant) mural , 6th-8th Centuries (2).jpg, Panjakent (Panjīkant) mural, 6th-8th centuries AD.

File:Panjakent (Panjīkant) mural , 6th-8th Centuries.jpg, Panjakent (Panjīkant) mural, 6th-8th centuries AD. National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan File:Panjakent (Panjīkant) mural, 6th-8th Centuries (3).jpg, Panjakent (Panjīkant) mural, 6th-8th centuries AD File:Shiva with Trisula Panjikent 7th–8th century CE Hermitage Museum.jpg,

with

Trisula The ''trishula'' () is a trident, a divine symbol, commonly used as one of the principal symbols in Hinduism. It is most commonly associated with the deity Shiva and widely employed in his iconography. Etymology The name ''trishula'' ultimatel ...

. Penjikent 7th–8th century AD.

File:Dushanbe - National Museum of Antiquities - Lion and Goddess Anahita - Penjikent, 6th-8th c AD.jpg, Lion and Goddess Nana, Penjikent, 6th-8th c AD File:Dushanbe - National Museum of Antiquities - Wall Painting.jpg, Multi-armed deity in armour

Geography

Climate

Panjakent has a hot summer humid continental climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Dsa''). The average annual temperature is . The warmest month is July with an average temperature of and the coolest month is January with an average temperature of . The average annual precipitation is and has an average of 87.9 days with precipitation. The wettest month is April with an average of of precipitation and the driest month is August with an average of of precipitation.

Subdivisions

Before ca. 2018, Panjakent was the seat of

Panjakent District Panjakent District or Nohiya-i Panjakent (; ) is a former district in Sughd Region, Tajikistan. Its capital was Panjakent. Around 2018, it was merged into the city of Panjakent. Administrative divisions The district was divided administratively i ...

, which covered the rural part of the present city of Panjakent. The city of Panjakent covers Panjakent proper and fourteen jamoats. These are as follows:Jamoat-level basic indicators
United Nations Development Programme in Tajikistan, accessed 3 October 2020

Notable people

* Nigina Amonkulova, folk singer * Khayrinisso Yusufi, vice-premier of Tajikistan, member of the Assembly of Representatives. * Otakhon Latifi () (1936–1998), was a noted journalist and politician * Yaqub Beg, leader of Uighur state of

Yettishar Yettishar (Chagatai language, Chagatai: ; ; ), also known as Kashgaria or the Kashgar Emirate, was a Uyghurs, Uyghur state in Xinjiang that existed from 1864 to 1877, during the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877), Dungan Revolt against the Qing dynas ...

during the Dungan Revolt against the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

in years 1865–1877 * Rustem Umierov (b. 1982), Ukrainian Crimean Tatar politician

Notes

References

External links

* {{Central Asian history Populated places in Sughd Region Achaemenid cities Former populated places in Tajikistan Samarkand Oblast Sogdian cities