“While the Romans were in consternation at this din, suddenly their enemies dropped the coverings of their armour, and were seen to be themselves blazing in helmets and breastplates, their Margianian steel glittering keen and bright, and their horses clad in plates of bronze and steel,” – wrote Plutarch (46-120 A.D.) about the event that took place during the attack of the Roman Republic on the Parthian Empire in the middle of the 1st c. B.C. But the first firm mention of Margiana in Achaemenid texts is from 522 B.C. And Margiana is an early name for Merv. According to Wikiledia, “Merv was a major Iranian city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, near today’s Mary, Turkmenistan. Human settlements on the site of Merv existed from the 3rd millennium BC until the 18th century AD… Merv was also a popular place for pilgrimage, and several religions considered it holy. In Zoroastrianism, Merv (Mouru) was one of 16 perfect lands created by god Ahura Mazda.”
Archaeologists state that at several sites in the Merv Oasis, evidence, such as moulds and crucibles, from the Early Bronze Age (2100-1900 BC) and the Middle Bronze Age (1900-1750 BC) have been excavated suggesting indigenous metalworking from an early period.
The name Khorāsān is Persian and means “where the sun arrives from“. The name was first given to the eastern province of Persia during the Sasanian Empire (from 224 to 651 A.D.) and was used from the Late Middle Ages in distinction to neighboring Transoxiana.
‘Sulaymani’ swords by al-Kindi >
‘Gardariki, Ukraine‘ ebook takes another perspective on the origin of the Rus.
