Balkh

A village in northern Afghanistan that was formerly Bactra, the capital of ancient Bactria. A settlement existed at the site as early as 500 BC and it was associated with Zoroaster until captured by Alexander the Great in c 329 BC. It was then made the capital of the Greek satrapy of Bactria, but in succeeding centuries fell to various nomadic invaders, including the Turks and Kushans, until it was decisively taken by the Arabs in the 8th century. Balkh then became the capital of Khorasan. Under the Abbasids and Samanids, it was a capital and a center of learning and known as the "Mother of Cities". Balkh was completely destroyed by the Mongols under Genghis Khan in 1220. It lay in ruins until its capture by Timur in the 15th century. The alleged discovery of the tomb of 'Ali the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law in neighboring Mazar-e Sharif (1480) once again reduced Balkh to insignificance. Balkh was incorporated into Afghanistan in 1850. Balkh was a caravan city on the Silk Route and a major outpost of Buddhism. Very little is known about the pre-Islamic city.

Known to its Arab conquerors as the ‘Mother of Cities’, the city of Balkh in Afghanistan was occupied long before the arrival of Islam. In the 1 st millennium bc it was associated with Zoroaster, and Alexander the Great made it his base for operations in 329-327 bc. Balkh was a caravan city on the Silk Route from the east and a major outpost of Buddhism. Islamic Balkh flourished under the Samanids of Bukhara (873-999) and contemporary visitors mention two congregational mosques. The city was devastated by the Mongols in 1220 and Ibn Battuta reported that it was still in ruins a hundred years later. Balkh revived in the 15th century under the Timurid rulers of Herat. Although a section through the massive mud-brick defences revealed a long history of construction, we know very little about the pre-Islamic city. Two Islamic monuments survive: the Masjid-i No Gunbad and the shrine of Khwaja Abu Masar Parsa. The mosque is a mud-brick building, now roofless, with a square plan, 20 metres across, divided by piers into nine square compartments, each originally with a dome (hence the name ‘Mosque of the Nine Domes’). The interior contains exquisitely carved stucco decorated with vine scrolls, palmettes etc, reminiscent of 9th and 10th century stucco at Samarra, Siraf, and elsewhere in Iran and Iraq. The shrine, which commemorates a local theologian who died in 1460, has typical Timurid tilework.