Paykend

History

The first settlement appeared in the 3rd century BC (some say the 4th), and a square citadel with a fire sanctuary and the ruler's palace was later built in its north-east corner. Paykend linked the southern lands of Bactria, India and Iran with the north, and sources describe it as a self-governing 'city of merchants'. Narshakhi called it Shahristan-i Royin, 'the copper city', for the strength of its walls.

In 706 Qutayba ibn Muslim, governor of Khurasan, besieged the city and took it by tunnelling under the walls, seizing enormous booty. From the 9th century it became a centre of Islam, and the Samanids built a large Friday mosque. In 921 an Arab embassy to Volga Bulgaria, whose secretary was Ibn Fadlan, passed through. Life here faded in the early 11th century, probably for lack of water; a 12th-century attempt by the Qarakhanid Arslan Khan to bring a separate canal from the Zarafshan failed.

What to see

Remains of ten 5th–6th-century towers — fine examples of Sogdian military architecture — survive in the west wall. Beside the Friday mosque, excavators found the base of a 9th-century minaret some 11 m across, wider than the Kalyan's. They also uncovered a pharmacy dated to 790 and considered the oldest in Central Asia.

Only about 15% of the 20 ha site had been studied by the 2010s. A joint expedition of the Hermitage and Uzbekistan's Institute of Archaeology has worked here since 1981, and there is a small site museum with finds.