Ancient Chach/Shash In Written Sources

Аннотация

This article examines historical information about the Tashkent oasis found in ancient and medieval written sources. It evaluates the significance of information regarding ancient cities, fortresses, major villages, communication systems, productive forces, and the mining industry for studying the history of the oasis. Keywords: Chach, Shash, Tashkent, Chatkal-Kurama, Chinese sources, Persian scripts, precious stones, turquoise, Ma'dan ash-Shash, silver mines, Silk Road. had long been well developed. By the mid-1st Introduction: The earliest information on the historical millennium BCE, the importance of the region along the and cultural regions of Central Asia is found in the middle course of the Syr Darya increased within the sacred Zoroastrian text Avesta, Achaemenid communication and transportation networks. This is inscriptions, Greco-Roman sources, and ancient also reflected in the emergence of cities that became Chinese records. As a political entity, the Chach region economic and cultural centers in the oasis. The is first recorded in ancient and early medieval written discovery of early fortification systems in areas near the sources. Geographically, it emerged in the territories Tuyaboʻgʻiz Reservoir on the middle course of the between Ferghana and Sogdiana, on the right bank of Ohangaron River and in the Zarkent region provides the middle course of the Syr Darya River. The earliest evidence of the processes of urbanization in the oasis references to Chach are found in Greco-Roman sources [1]. from antiquity, in Chinese chronicles from antiquity and the early medieval period, and in ancient Persian The development of economic life in the Tashkent oasis and Turkic sources. With the advent of Islam, this body gradually increased the demand for various minerals. In of information was enriched by Arab geographers as this process, the ancient extraction of rare stones and well as by Chinese and European diplomatic missions. various minerals from the Chatkal-Kurama Mountains and the advancement of mining activities were of great It is well known that ancient written sources contain importance. Analyzing the data provided in the important information about the history and culture of sources, it is evident that these minerals were exported various historical and cultural regions of Central Asia. both as raw materials and as finished or semi-finished Among this information, numerous records describe products to neighboring historical and cultural regions ancient mines, minerals, and the regions where of Central Asia. precious stones were found. In inscriptions from the Achaemenid kings' palace in Susa, there are references to gold and other rare metals and precious stones It is well known that from the 5th century BCE, ancient brought from Bactria, Sogdiana, and Khwarezm. historical and geographical works by European authors Specifically, these inscriptions tell us that gold was began to provide information about various historical imported from Bactria, lapis lazuli and "pine stone" and cultural regions of Central Asia. Many of these from Sogdiana, and a stone known as "akshaina" from sources frequently mention territories rich in mineral Khwarezm, all of which were used in palace resources. For instance, Herodotus (5th century BCE) construction [23, pp. 11–12]. wrote that the land of the Massagetae was abundant in Nevertheless, ancient sources rarely mention the gold and copper, and that they did not use iron and history of the Chach oasis, where the mining industry silver, as these metals were absent in their region [2]. International Journal Of History And Political Sciences 12 https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ijhps International Journal Of History And Political Sciences (ISSN – 2771-2222) However, no information is provided in his work about expansion of routes passing from Eastern Turkestan the ancient Chach oasis or its mines. Similarly, in the through the Tianshan mountain passes into the writings of Strabo (1st century BCE) [3], there are no Semirechye (Jetisu) region, and the active assimilation references to the Chach oasis, despite its richness in of these mountainous paths [8]. One branch of the useful minerals. northern route extended from Zomin through Shash to Isfijab, Taraz, Uchkuduk-Kulan (present-day Lugovaya Only at the beginning of the Common Era did European station), and through the Chu Valley to Aspara, authors begin to mention the history of the Chach Novaket, and the city of Suyab (Ak-Beshim), eventually oasis. Notably, these accounts increasingly referred to reaching Upper Barskhan on the southeastern shore of the region’s rich and rare mineral resources. Lake Issyk-Kul [9]. Specifically, the Roman historian Pliny the Elder (1st century CE) mentioned the presence of the precious The Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), compiled in the turquoise stone frequently found in the land of the first half of the 11th century, confirms that this Saka, identified as the Tashkent oasis [4]. I