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1. ANCIENT MERV The Silk Road MERV - The Silk Road TURKMENISTAN TURKMENISTAN

5. Merv (Turkmen: Merw, from Persian: مرو, Marv, sometimestransliterated Marw or Mary; cf. Chinese: 木鹿, Mulu), formerly Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, andlater Alexandria and Antiochia in Margiana (Greek: Αντιόχεια της Μαργιανής), was a major oasis-city in CentralAsia, on the historical SilkRoad, locatedneartoday's Mary in Turkmenistan. Severalcitieshaveexistedonthissite, whichissignificantfor the interchangeofcultureandpoliticsat a siteofmajorstrategicvalue. ItisclaimedthatMervwasbriefly the largestcity in the world in the 12th century. The siteofancientMervhasbeenlistedby UNESCO as a WorldHeritageSite. (en.wikipedia.org)

8. HISTORY Merv'sorigins are prehistoric: archaeological surveys have revealed many survivals of village life as far back as the 3rd millennium BC. Under the name of Mouru, Merv is mentioned with Bakhdi (Balkh) in the geography of the Zend-Avesta (commentaries on the Avesta). Under the Achaemenid dynasty Merv is mentioned as being a place of some importance: under the name of Margu it occurs as part of one of the satrapies in the Behistun inscriptions (ca 515 BC) of the Persian monarchDariusHystaspis. The ancient city appears to have been re-founded by Cyrus the Great (559 - 530 BC), but the Achaemenid levels are deeply covered by later strata at the site. (See also Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex.) Alexander the Great's visit to Merv is merely legendary, but the city was named Alexandria for a time. After Alexander's death, Merv became the chief city of theprovince of Margiana of the Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanid states. Merv was re-named AntiochiaMargiana, by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus Soter, who rebuilt and expanded the city at the site presently known as Gyaur Gala (Turkish Gayur Kala) (Fortress). After the Sassanid Ardashir I (220-240 AD) took Merv, the study of numismatics picks up the thread: a long unbroken direct Sassanian rule of four centuries is documented from the unbroken series of coins originally minted at Merv. During this period Merv was home to practitioners of a wide range of different religions beside the official Zoroastrianism of the Sassanids, including many Buddhists, Manichaeans, and East Syrian Christians. Between the 6th (553) and 11th centuries AD, Merv was the seat of an East Syrian metropolitan province. (en.wikipedia.org)

9. GEOGRAPHY The oasis of Merv is situated on the Murghab River that flows down from Afghanistan, on the southern edge of the Karakum Desert, at 37°30’N and 62°E, about 230 miles (370 km) north of Herat, and 280 miles (450 km) south of Khiva. Its area is about 1,900 square miles (4,900 km2). The great chain of mountains which, under the names ofParopamisade and Hindu Kush, extends from the Caspian Sea to the Pamir Mountains is interrupted some 180 miles (290 km) south of Merv. Through or near this gap flow northwards in parallel courses the Tejen and Murgab rivers, until they lose themselves in the Karakum Desert. Thus they make Merv a sort of watch tower over the entrance into Afghanistan on the north-west and at the same time create a stepping-stone or étape between north-east Persia and the states of Bokhara and Samarkand. Merv is advantageously situated in the inland delta of the Murghab River, which flows from its source in the Hindu Kush northwards through the Garagum desert. The Murghab delta region, known to the Greeks asMargiana, gives Merv two distinct advantages: first, it provides an easy southeast-northwest route from the Afghan highlands towards the lowlands of Karakum, the Amu Darya valley and Khwarezm. Second, the Murgab delta, being a large well-watered zone in the midst of the dry Karakum, serves as a natural stopping-point for the routes from northwest Iran towards Transoxiana – the Silk Roads. The delta, and thus Merv, lies at the junction of these two important routes: the northwest-southeast route to Herat and Balkh (and thus to the Indus and beyond) and the southwest-northeast route from Tus and Nishapur to Bukhara and Samarkand. (en.wikipedia.org)

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