膶膧膶 (Ar. Š膩š), the name of a district and of a town in medieval Transoxania; the name of the town was gradually supplanted by that of Tashkent (q.v.) from late Saljuq and Mongol times onwards.
The pre-Mongol period. The province of 膶膩膷 lay on the right bank of the Syr Darya or Jaxartes, with those of 莫濒腻辩 to its south and of 础蝉蹿墨箩腻产 to its north, and through it ran the right-bank affluent of the Syr Darya, the Parak/Barak or Chirchik river (the name nahr al-Š膩š was however, reserved in early Islamic times for the course of the Syr Darya itself after it had received various tributaries running down from the mountains, see 岣d奴d al-士膩lam, tr. Minorsky, p. 73).
A settlement in the Chirchik oasis existed in pre-Islamic times. In his inscription on the Ka士ba-ye Zardošt at Naqš-e Rostam Š膩p奴r I lists 膶膩膷 (Parth. š示šs[tn?], Gk. Tsatsenes) as the furthermost limit of the empire to the northeast (Maricq, pp. 306-07, 336-37). In Chinese sources of the T’ang period, we have Ši and 膶e膷e for 膶膩膷, and the Buddhist pilgrim Hsüan-Tsang visited it in the early 7th century (Bretschneider, II, pp. 55-56). In Sogdian script the form 肠示肠苍示测 is attested (Henning, pp. 8-9). In the accounts of the Arab conquests in Transoxania in the early 2nd/8th century by Qotayba b. Moslem, there is mentioned a local ruler (malek) of Š膩š (whether this man was Turkish or Iranian is unknown) with his capital at the otherwise unidentified town of 峁乺band (Bal膩岣弌r墨, 贵辞迟奴岣�, p. 421; 峁琣bar墨, II, pp. 1517, 1521; cf. Gibb, pp. 49, 51, and Grousset, p. 166). There were, in fact, several towns in the province, the most significant of which were 叠补苍腻办补峁� on the Syr Darya itself and Benka峁�, two 蹿补谤蝉补岣�s away, normally described in the Islamic geographical literature of the 4th/10th century as the capital of the province and possibly lying on the site of the later, and modern, Tashkent (see Maqdes墨 [Moqaddas墨], p. 276, and 岣d奴d al-士膩lam, tr. p. 118: Benka峁� the 辩补峁产补 of Š膩š/膶膩膷; also mentioned ibid., p. 117, is Jab岣∨玨a峁� described as formerly the military camp of 膶膩膷, and this name, obviously containing the ancient Turkish tribal title 驰补产岣, points to a strong Turkish presence in the region by this time).
Like 础蝉蹿墨箩腻产, 膶膩膷 was in the first Islamic centuries regarded as a frontier region protecting the d膩r al-Esl膩m against the pagan Turks, and as in several other parts of Central Asia and the region to the southeast of the Caspian Sea, there existed there a protective rampart and ditch against the steppe dwellers, possibly built by the son of the 士Abbasid governor of Khorasan 岣mayd b. Qa岣メ弓aba (see Ebn 岣wqal, ed. Kramers, p. 509, tr. Kramers, p. 486; Barthold, Turkestan3, pp. 172-73). A local ruler of 膶膩膷 and his Turkish followers joined the rebellion of R膩fe士 b. Lay峁� against H膩r奴n al-Raš墨d (峁琣bar墨, III, p. 712), but later in the 3rd/9th century 膶膩膷 fell within the dominions of the Samanids, and one of the early members of the family, Ya岣膩 b. Asad, was granted the governorship of 膶膩膷 as early as 204/819 by the governor of Khorasan 岣燼ss膩n b. 士Abb膩d (Ebn al-A峁玶, ed. Tornberg, VII, p. 192; cf. Narša岣的�, ed. Modarres Ra偶aw墨, pp. 90-91, tr. Frye, pp. 76-77). Public works were then undertaken there, such as the restoring of a canal which had silted up, for which the caliph al-Mo士ta峁m grudgingly contributed a substantial sum (峁琣bar墨, III, p. 1326, tr. Marin, p. 129, and 士Awf墨, quoted in Barthold, op. cit., p. 212).
The classical Islamic geographers describe the province as fertile, populous and agriculturally prosperous, and its chief town Benka峁� as a town with the classical division of a 尘补诲墨苍补 with a citadel (辩补岣肥縜) and Friday mosque, an inner suburb (谤补产补偶) and an outer one, all surrounded by walls; the inhabitants were bellicose frontier fighters; and the specialties of the region included bows and arrows made of 岣礱诲补苍驳 (birch?) wood and saddles of shagreen (办墨尘补岣祎) hide (Maqdes墨 [Moqaddas墨], pp. 276-77, 325; Ebn 岣wqal, pp. 507-09, tr. pp. 485-87; 岣d奴d al-士膩lam, tr. pp. 117-18, comm. p. 357; Y膩q奴t, 叠辞濒诲腻苍, Beirut, III, pp. 308-09; Le Strange, Lands, pp. 480-83; Barthold, Turkestan3, pp. 168-75; for 办墨尘补岣祎/k墨mo岣祎 see Zeki Validi Togan, pp. 122-24).
It is in the 5th/11th century that the name for 膶膩膷 of Tashkent first appears in the India of B墨r奴n墨 (ed. Sachau, p. 149, tr. I, p. 298), where the Khwarazmian scholar quotes the etymology of Turkish taš plus Iranian kand, lit. “stone city,” and identifies it with the “stone fortified town,” lithos pyrgos, of Ptolemy’s Geography (cf. Marquart, 膾谤腻苍&蝉肠补谤辞苍;补丑谤, p. 155); but Minorsky much more plausibly saw in the first element a dissimilated form of 膷腻膷 (岣d奴d al-士膩lam, comm., p. 357). It is in the later 5th/11th century and the 6th/12th century that coins, formerly in large part minted simply at Š膩š (i.e., Benka峁�), begin to be minted at 叠补苍腻办补峁� (Zambaur, pp. 79, 80, 156-57), and it may well be that, by this period, with the florescence of the Qarakhanids and 岣瘁禌膩razmš膩hs, 叠补苍腻办补峁� had eclipsed Benka峁� in importance; it is the former alone which is mentioned in the Mongols’ attack on 膶膩膷 (Jovayn墨, tr. Boyle, I, pp. 91-92), but it was to be Tashkent which, under the Great Khans and then the Chaghatayids, was to have the greater fame.
Bibliography:
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(C. Edmund Bosworth)
Originally Published: December 15, 1990
Last Updated: December 15, 1990
This article is available in print.
Vol. IV, Fasc. 6, pp. 604-605
