Le fait urbain dans l'Asie centrale pré-islamique : approche diachronique, approche synchronique (1)

We propose to examine the urban excavations in approximate chronological order, since the existence of several towns naturally overlapped. We will select those cases, in the minority, where we have sufficient data to perceive the overall functioning of the urban organism, at least at certain periods. Particular attention will be paid to the recurrence of interpretative patterns in the interpretation of remains, and also to the relationship between archaeological data, historical sources and local epigraphic sources: from this point of view, situations are very diverse, from the total absence of such data in the pre-Hellenistic period to a very close dialogue between writings and the field in the Punjikent of the 700-720s.

The lecture covers sites from the Hellenistic period onwards. Earlier sites are covered in this year's seminar, by guest specialists [1].

Nisa

Nisa (actually a double site, "Old Nisa" and "New Nisa", 1.5 km apart) is located in Turkmenistan, some ten kilometers west of the capital Ashgabat. It was the first capital of the "imperial" Parthians from around the middle of the 11th^century BC (the pre-imperial capital Asaak, which lay a little further west, perhaps in the border zone with modern-day Iran, has not been identified). This was the period when Arsacid rulers proclaimed themselves to be "philhellenes", an orientation amply expressed by the architecture and art of Nisa.

Why start with Nisa? Even if it has been somewhat overshadowed by the many dazzling urban excavations since then, the adventure of Central Asian urban archaeology began here, as did the rediscovery of Central Asian Hellenism. Until the 1950s, the only comparable archaeological ventures were Taxila, already in India, and Susa, on the Mesopotamian outskirts of Iran. It's fair to say that all the major questions that have arisen and continue to arise in the urban archaeology of ancient Central Asia - the balance between Hellenistic contributions and the local substratum, technical constraints versus cultural choices, the religious or secular use of buildings, etc. - were initially raised by the archaeologists themselves. - were first and foremost those of the successive teams who worked at Nisa.

The information provided by this site has some unique assets and some limitations. Unique assets include the complete architectural renderings of the main monuments, published in color and well distributed as early as 1958 (but which quickly aroused reservations among specialists in Greek architecture); the fifty or so ivory rhytons whose publication caused a sensation the following year; the ostraca in the Parthian language discovered from 1948 onwards, rapidly deciphered by the great Iranian scholars of Leningrad, and which are the only archival documents ever supplied en masse by a Central Asian city (the composite archives of Rob and Mount Mugh were both found outside their production context) ; and also a few archaeological legends, notably the statue of Rodogune, daughter of Mithridates ^I (in fact an Aphrodite emerging from the bath, a Hellenistic import, as P. Bernard demonstrated in four pages, which did not prevent this tale from continuing its career in publications [2]). Among the limits, only one literary source provides information: Isidore de Charax, Stations parthes, 12: "Parthyene, 25 schoeni [each about 6 km long], and the polis of Parthaunisa ["Nisa of the Parthians"] after 6 schoeni ; there are royal tombs"; the fact that from an archaeological point of view only "Old Nisa" is well known, which is in fact the fortified royal annex of "New Nisa", the real ancient city (despite the misleading names given to them by early archaeologists) ; the absence of archaeological data on the agricultural or commercial environment; and lastly, a fairly short period of operation, between the foundation of Old Nisa by Mithridates ^I (165-132), who gave it its name Mihrdādkirt, and the abandonment of official functions in the first half of the ^1st c. of n. è., an abandonment that can be linked to the rise of western capitals (Hecatompyles, Ecbatane, Ctesiphon) and frequent rebellions in the eastern provinces.