Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that answer the question.
Query: When was the city of Merv established?
Under the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC), the historical record mentions Merv as 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 monarch Darius Hystaspis. The first city of Merv was founded in the 6th century BC as part of the Achaemenid expansion into the region[2] of Cyrus the Great (559–530 BC), but later strata deeply cover the Achaemenid levels at the site.
By the eleventh century East Syriac Christianity was in decline in Khorasan and Segestan. The last-known metropolitan of Merv was Abdisho, who was consecrated by the patriarch Mari (987–99). The last-known metropolitan of Herat was Giwargis, who flourished in the reign of Sabrisho III (1064–72). If any of the suffragan dioceses were still in existence at this period, they are not mentioned. The surviving urban Christian communities in Khorasan suffered a heavy blow at the start of the thirteenth century, when the cities of Merv, Nishapur and Herat were stormed by Genghis Khan in 1220. Their inhabitants were massacred, and although all three cities were refounded shortly afterwards, it is likely that they had only small East Syriac communities thereafter. Nevertheless, at least one diocese survived into the thirteenth century. In 1279 an unnamed bishop of Tus entertained the monks Bar Sawma and Marqos in the monastery of Mar Sehyon near Tus during their pilgrimage from China to Jerusalem.
Together with Merv, Sanjan was an important stopping place and center of trade on the southern route of the Silk road. Sanjan gained further importance following the Seleucid establishment of Merv as the principal city of the Margiana province, a status it also held during the subsequent Parthian (250 BCE–226 CE) and Sassanid (226-651 CE) eras.
As a site in the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, Sanjan is subject to the hypothesis that the Indo-Iranians, a major branch that split off from the Proto-Indo-Europeans, originated there. (see also: BMAC:Indo-Iranian hypothesis)
Evidences of the production of crucible steel have been found in Merv, Turkmenistan, a major city on the 'Silk Road'. The Islamic scholar, al-Kindi (CE 801–866) mentions that during the ninth century the region of Khorasan, the area to which the cities Nishapur, Merv, Herat and Balkh belong, is a steel manufacturing centre. Evidence from a metallurgical workshop at Merv, dated to the ninth- early tenth century CE, provides an illustration of the co-fusion method of steel production in crucibles, about 1000 years earlier than the distinctly different wootz process. The crucible steel process at Merv might be seen as technologically related to what Bronson (1986, 43) calls Heyderabad process, a variation of the wootz process, after the location of the process documented by Voysey in the 1820s.
Alexander the Great's visit to Merv is merely legendary, but the city was named Alexandria (Ἀλεξάνδρεια)[3] after him for a time. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Merv became the capital of the Province of Margiana of the Seleucid, Greco-Bactrian (256-125 BC), Parthian, and Sassanid states. The Seleucid ruler Antiochus Soter (reigned 281–261 BC) renamed Merv as Antiochia Margiana; he rebuilt and expanded the city at the site presently known as Gyaur Gala (Gäwürgala) fortress. After the fall of the Seleucid dynasty (63 BC), Bactria, Parthia, and the Kushans took control in succession. Merv was a major city of Buddhist learning, with Buddhist monastery temples for many centuries until its Islamicization.[4][5] At the site of Gyaur Kala and Bairam Ali Buddhism was followed and practised often at the local Buddhist stupas.[6]
Merv formerly Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, and later Alexandria and Antiochia in Margiana, was a major oasis-city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, located near today's Mary. Several cities have existed on this site, which is significant for the interchange of culture and politics at a site of major strategic value. It is claimed that Merv was briefly the largest city in the world in the 12th century.
Chris and Angie's relationship progresses throughout the series, until the series finale, when the return of Angie's fiancé Merve destroys their relationship, Chris realising he may lose Angie for good. He concludes that Merve is "obviously gay", after watching a videotape of Angie's that shows Merve as a campy weatherman on Australian television. Eventually, Chris takes Angie's engagement ring, and is confronted by Merve and two of his friends, and told to give it back. Chris denies he has it, and it is only when Angie eventually bursts in, and asks Chris to return it, that he complies. However, when he gives the ring back, Chris drops it, probably accidentally, and kneels down to pick it up, causing Anwar's uncle to think that Chris is proposing. Angie takes the ring, and runs off, leaving both Chris and Merve opposite one another. After she runs away, Chris comes to the conclusion that she loves him, and thus earns a punch from Merve, starting a minor brawl. In the closing montage, he and Angie are seen staring at each other with sad expressions through a window. In Chris's lost-week webisode, he is seen recording a message to Angie.
The major city to fall to Tolui's army was the city of Merv. Juvayni wrote of Merv: "In extent of territory it excelled among the lands of Khorasan, and the bird of peace and security flew over its confines. The number of its chief men rivaled the drops of April rain, and its earth contended with the heavens." The garrison at Merv was only about 12,000 men, and the city was inundated with refugees from eastern Khwarezmia. For six days, Tolui besieged the city, and on the seventh day, he assaulted the city. However, the garrison beat back the assault and launched their own counter-attack against the Mongols. The garrison force was similarly forced back into the city. The next day, the city's governor surrendered the city on Tolui's promise that the lives of the citizens would be spared. As soon as the city was handed over, however, Tolui slaughtered almost every person who surrendered, in a massacre possibly on a greater scale than that at Urgench.
Merv consists of a few discrete walled cities very near to each other, each of which was constructed on uninhabited land by builders of different eras, used, and then abandoned and never rebuilt. Four walled cities correspond to the chief periods of Merv's importance: the oldest, Erkgala, corresponds to Achaemenid Merv, and is the smallest of the three. Gäwürgala (also known as Gyaur Gala), which surrounds Erkgala, comprises the Hellenistic and Sassanian metropolis and also served as an industrial suburb to the Abbasid/Seljuk city, Soltangala – by far the largest of the three. The smaller Timurid city was founded a short distance to the south and is now called Abdyllahangala. Various other ancient buildings are scattered between and around these four cities; all of the sites are preserved in the “Ancient Merv Archaeological Park” just north of the modern village of Baýramaly and thirty kilometers east of the large Soviet-built city of Mary (Herrmann 1993).
On June 9, 747 (Ramadan 25, 129AH), Abu Muslim successfully initiated an open revolt against Umayyad rule, which was carried out under the sign of the Black Standard. Close to 10,000 soldiers were under Abu Muslim's command when the hostilities officially began in Merv. On February 14, 748 he established control of Merv, expelling Umayyad governor Nasr ibn Sayyar less than a year after the latter had put down Ibn Surayj's revolt, and dispatched an army westwards.
Throughout the Abbasid era (750-1258), Merv remained the capital and most important city of Khurasan. During this time, the Arab historian Al-Muqaddasi (c. 945/946 - 991) called Merv "delightful, fine, elegant, brilliant, extensive, and pleasant". Merv's architecture perhaps provided the inspiration for the Abbasid re-planning of Baghdad. The city was notable as a home for immigrants from the Arab lands as well as for those from Sogdia and elsewhere in Central Asia (Herrmann 1999). In the period from 813 to 818, the temporary residency of the caliph al-Ma'mun effectively made Merv the capital of the Muslim world and highlighted Merv's importance to the Abbasids. Merv also became the center of a major 8th-century Neo-Mazdakite movement led by al-Muqanna, the "Veiled Prophet", who gained many followers by claiming to be an incarnation of God and heir to Abu Muslim; the Khurramiyya inspired by him persisted in Merv until the 12th century.
During this period Merv, like Samarkand and Bukhara, functioned as one of the great cities of Muslim scholarship; the celebrated historian Yaqut (1179–1229) studied in its libraries. Merv produced a number of scholars in various branches of knowledge, such as Islamic law, hadith, history, and literature. Several scholars have the name Marwazi (المروزي) designating them as hailing from Merv, including the famous Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (780–855). The city continued to have a substantial Christian community. In 1009 the Archbishop of Merv sent a letter to the Patriarch at Baghdad asking that the Keraites be allowed to fast less than other Nestorian Christians.[9]
Soltangala (from Sultan Qala, the sultan's fortress) is by far the largest of Merv's cities. Textual sources (Herrmann 1999) establish that it was Abu Muslim, the leader of the Abbasid rebellion, who symbolized the beginning of the new Caliphate by commissioning monumental structures to the west of the Gäwürgala walls, in what then became Soltangala. The area was quickly walled and became the core of medieval Merv; centuries of prosperity which followed are attested to by the many Abbasid-era köshks discovered in and outside of Soltangala. Kushks (Persian, Kushk, "pavilion", "kiosk"), which comprise the chief remains of Abbasid Merv, are a building type unique to Central Asia during this period. A kind of semi-fortified two-story palace whose corrugated walls give it a unique and striking appearance, köshks were the residences of Merv's elite. The second story of these structures comprised living quarters; the first story may have been used for storage. Parapets lined the roof, which was often used for living quarters as well. Merv's largest and best-preserved Abbasid köşk is the Greater Gyzgala (Turkmen, "maiden's fortress"), located just outside the Soltangala's western wall; this structure consisted of 17 rooms surrounding a central courtyard. The nearby Lesser Gyzgala had extraordinarily thick walls with deep corrugations, as well as multiple interior stairways leading to second-story living quarters. All of Merv's kushks are in precarious states of preservation (Herrmann 1999).
Merv achieved some political spotlight in February 748 when Abu Muslim (d. 750) declared a new Abbasid dynasty at Merv, and set out from the city to conquer Iran and Iraq and establish a new capital at Baghdad. Abu Muslim was famously challenged by the Goldsmith of Merv to do the right thing and not make war on fellow Muslims. The Goldsmith was put to death.
At this time much of the population was already in settlements around the fertile river valleys along the Amu Darya, and Merv and Nisa became centers of sericulture (the raising of silkworms). A busy caravan route, connecting Tang Dynasty China and the city of Baghdad (in modern Iraq), passed through Merv. Thus, the city of Merv constituted an important prize for any conqueror.
The metropolitan Abdisho, formerly bishop of Ispahan, was appointed metropolitan of Merv by the patriarch Mari (987–99). He was metropolitan of Merv when Elijah of Nisibis completed his "Chronography" in 1018/19.
During this period Merv expanded to its greatest size—Arab and Persian geographers termed it "the mother of the world", the "rendezvous of great and small", the "chief city of Khurasan" and the capital of the eastern Islamic world. Written sources also attest to a large library and madrasa founded by Nizam al-Mulk (Vizier: 1064-1092), as well as many other major cultural institutions. Perhaps most importantly, Merv was said to have a market that is "the best of the major cities of Iran and Khurasan" (Herrmann 1999).
The Christian population of the Merv region seems to have increased during the sixth century, as the bishop of Merv was recognised as a metropolitan at the synod of Joseph in 554 and Herat also became a metropolitan diocese shortly afterwards. The first known metropolitan of Herat was present at the synod of Ishoyahb I in 585. The growing importance of the Merv region for the Church of the East is also attested by the appearance of several more Christian centres during the late fifth and sixth century. By the end of the fifth century the diocese of Abrashahr (Nishapur) also included the city of Tus, whose name featured in 497 in the title of the bishop Yohannis of 'Tus and Abrashahr'. Four more dioceses seem also to have been created in the sixth century. The bishops Yohannan of 'Abiward and Shahr Peroz' and Theodore of Merw-i Rud accepted the acts of the synod of Joseph in 554, the latter by letter, while the bishops Habib of Pusang and Gabriel of 'Badisi and Qadistan' adhered by proxy to the decisions of the synod of Ishoyahb I in 585, sending deacons to represent them. None of these four dioceses is mentioned again, and it is not clear when they lapsed.
Merv gained renewed importance in February 748 when the Iranian general Abu Muslim (d. 755) declared a new Abbasid dynasty at Merv, expanding and re-founding the city, and, in the name of the Abbasid line, used the city as a base of rebellion against the Umayyad caliphate. After the Abbasids became established in Baghdad, Abu Muslim continued to rule Merv as a semi-independent prince until his eventual assassination. Indeed, Merv operated as the center of Abbasid partisanship for the duration of the Abbasid Revolution of 746-750, and later on became a consistent source of political support for the Abbasid rulers in Baghdad; the governorship of Khurasan at Merv was considered one of the most important political figures of the Caliphate. The influential Barmakid family, based in Merv, played an important part in transferring Greek knowledge (established in Merv since the days of the Seleucids and Greco-Bactrians) into the Arab world.
Merv often refers to the Central Asian city: Merv.
Erk Gala (from Persian, "the citadel fort") is the oldest part of the city of Merv complex. Built in the 7th century BC Erk Gala was built as a Persian Style fortress controlling the oasis on the Murghab River.[17] The Erk Gala fortress later served as the acropolis for the Hellenistic city and later the Arc of the Islamic city.
The irrigated area along the Kopet Dagh ends east of Ashkebat. Further east there is desert, then the small oasis of Tejent, more desert and the much larger oasis of Merv. Merv had the great fortress of Kaushut Khan and was inhabited by the same Tekkes that fought at Geok Tepe. As soon as the Russians were established in Ashkabad traders, and also spies, began moving between the Kopet Dagh and Merv. Some elders from Merv went north to Petroalexandrovsk and offered a degree of submission to the Russians there. The Russians at Ashkebat had to explain that both groups were part of the same empire. In February 1882 Alikhanov visited Merv and began talking to Makhdum Kuli Khan who had been in command at Geok Tepe. In September he persuaded him to take an oath of allegiance to the White Czar.
Sassanian rule came to an end when the last Sassanian ruler, Yazdegerd III (632–651) was killed not far from the city and the Sassanian military governor surrendered to the approaching Arab army. Representatives of the caliph Umar occupied the city, which became the capital of the Umayyad province of Khorasan. In 671 Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan sent 50,000 Arab troops to Merv as a colony. This colony retained its native Kufan sympathies and became the nucleus of Khurasan.[7] Using the city as their base, the Arabs, led by Qutayba ibn Muslim from 705 to 715, brought under subjection large parts of Central Asia, including Balkh, Bokhara, and Fergana. Merv, and Khorasan in general, became one of the first parts of the Persian-speaking world to become majority-Muslim. Arab immigration to the area was substantial. A Chinese captured at Talas, Du Huan, was brought to Baghdad and toured the caliphate. He observed that in Merv, Khurasan, Arabs and Persians lived in mixed concentrations.[8]
Mary (), formerly named Merv, Meru and Margiana, is a city on an oasis in the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan, located on the Murgab River. It is the capital city of Mary Region. In 2009, Mary had a population of 123,000, up from 92,000 in the 1989 census. The ruins of the ancient city of Merv is located near the town.
Sanjar's rule, marked by conflict with the Kara-Khitai and Khwarazmians, ended in 1153 when Turkish Ghuzz nomads from beyond the Amu Darya pillaged the city. Subsequently, Merv changed hands between the Khwarazmians of Khiva, the Ghuzz, and the Ghurids - it began to lose importance relative to Khurasan's other major city, Nishapur.