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The oasis town of Merv was founded
in the 6th century BC, by either Cyrus the Great (559-530
BC) or Darius the Great (522-486 BC), both Persian
kings of the Achaemenid Empire. Merv is actually
a series of towns, each succeeding another throughout
the course of history. In the 6th century BC it was
called Erk Kala, followed by Gyaur Kala,
Sultan Kala, and Abdulla-Khan Kala.
Merv was originally a fortress town, surrounded by
thick walls and occupying an area of about 20 square
hectares. At the beginning of 3rd century BC, the
Seleucid ruler Antiochus (281-261 BC) converted
Merv into a metropolis, renaming it Gyaur Kala
and drastically expanding it. The roughly rectangular
city was enclosed by new Greek-style fortifications,
measuring more than two hundred kilometers across.
Merv flourished during this time and enjoyed continued
success for the next eight hundred years.
A Buddhist worship complex and the mosque of Yusuf
Khamadani were eventually built. The town grew rich
on the revenues from trade on the Silk Road - Merv
was strategically located where East met West - and
became a major cultural centre and one of the most
important capitals of Islam. Archaeological evidence
indicates that Merv was populated by a wide range
of religious faiths, including the official Zoroastrian
religion, Christians, Buddhists and Manichaeans.
Merv enjoyed its pinnacle of prosperity from the
11th to the 12th centuries AD when the Seljuks
made it the capital of their empire, occupying 640
hectares. The city became one of the most developed
of its time, its two magnificent libraries attracting
scholars from all over the world. The famous Mausoleum
of Sultan Sanjar was constructed in the middle
of the 12th century. The structure is an enormous
27x27 metre cube crowned by a huge dome covered with
turquoise tiles, measuring 17 metres in diameter.
In AD 1221 Merv was sacked by the Mongols, its libraries
burnt and the dam on which the success of the oasis
heavily depended was severely damaged. The city experienced
a decline from which it never recovered. In the 15th
century a new city, named Abdulla-Khan Kula emerged,
but was a shadow of the former city, covering only
forty hectares.
A number of monuments still stand from Merv's numerous
occupations, including military fortifications, mosques,
and various dwellings. These monuments have weathered
greatly with the passage of time, and the foundations
are weakening due to the rising water table caused
by the building of the Karakum Canal in the 1950s.
Turkmenistan, having only recently acquired independence,
has limited funds to preserve its monuments and few
organizations devoted to the preservation of those
monuments.
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