Samarkand and Bukhara
ماوراءالنهرTransoxiana: Samarkand and Bukhara, the cities beyond the river, centres of Persian learning for a thousand years.
Between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya lay Transoxiana, ancient Sogdiana. Bukhara was the Samanid capital where Persian literature was reborn and where Avicenna grew up; Samarkand became Timur's capital in the fourteenth century.
Persian remained the language of courts, scholars and poets here into the twentieth century, and Tajik is still spoken in both cities.
In the Shahnameh
This is the edge of Turan in the Shahnameh, the realm of Afrasiab, Iran's great enemy.
Cities and towns
Samarkandسمرقند
Timur's capital
Bukharaبخارا
The Samanid capital
Shahrisabzشهر سبز
Timur's birthplace
Landmarksبناها و نشانهها
Registan
ریگستانSamarkand's square of three madrasas
Ark of Bukhara
ارگ بخاراThe fortress of the emirs of Bukhara
Samarkand and Bukhara through time
Iranian historyAfsharids, Zands and Qajarsافشاریان، زندیان و قاجاریان
A soldier-king who sacked Delhi, a regent who rebuilt Shiraz, and a dynasty that made Tehran the capital and lived through Iran's Constitutional Revolution.
- Ulugh Beg begins his madrasa
- Sher-Dor madrasa begun
- Stoddart and Conolly executed before the Ark
- Red Army takes Bukhara; the last emir flees
- Historic Centre of Bukhara inscribed by UNESCO
- Samarkand inscribed by UNESCO
Poets of Samarkand and Bukharaشاعران
Omar Khayyam
خیامMathematician and astronomer of Nishapur, known to the world for quatrains on time, wine and doubt.
Loiq Sher-Ali
لایق شیرعلیTajikistan's best-loved modern poet, who made the Persian language and its classical heritage his great theme.
Stories from hereداستانها
The Caspian tiger
The tiger of Mazandaran vanished from Iran in the mid-twentieth century. It lives on in a name, a hero's cloak and a genetic surprise.
The Arab conquest and the Persian revival
Islam reached Iran with the Arab armies of the 7th century. Persian survived, took on a new script and, under dynasties such as the Samanids, returned as one of the great literary languages of the world.
The Timurids
Timur's campaigns were brutal, but his heirs made Samarkand and Herat capitals of Persian painting, poetry, astronomy and architecture.
Fereydun and his three sons
The king who freed Iran from Zahhak divided the world between his sons, and in doing so, Ferdowsi says, began the long feud between Iran and Turan.
Siyavash and the trial by fire
The innocent prince who rode through fire to prove his honour, kept his word at the cost of his life, and was mourned for centuries in Central Asia.
Arash the archer
To end a war, the border of Iran would be drawn wherever one arrow fell. Arash climbed a mountain and put everything he had into the shot.