·¡&³§³¦²¹°ù´Ç²Ô;°Ä€&³§³¦²¹°ù´Ç²Ô;(·¡)²Ñ (called SekÄšem, SekÄ«mešt, and EskÄ«mešt by early geographers), a settlement in medieval BadaḵšÄn in northeastern Afghanistan (q.v.), now in the modern Afghan province of EškÄšem (lat. 36° 43′ N., long. 71° 34′ E.; not to be confused with Eškameš, further to the west in the Qondoz or Qaá¹aḡan district of BadaḵšÄn). It is situated on the left bank of the upper Oxus and is connected to the provincial capital FayżÄbÄd by a road across the SardÄb Pass; when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the Russians built a bridge there over the Oxus in the early 1980s in order to transport troops and matériel. EškÄšem is the home of a small group of speakers of the Eastern Iranian language EškÄšmÄ« (q.v.), which straddles the Oxus, hence they are also represented on the Tajikistan side of the river. Many of the local people are IsmaÊ¿ilis (locally known as MawlÄʾīs). EskÄšem has played a part in history because of its position commanding the only winter route between BadaḵšÄn and the trans-Oxus regions of ŠoḡnÄn and WaḵÄn; it was here that John Wood crossed the Oxus on ice in 1837.
Bibliography (for cited works not given in detail, see “Short References”):
Esá¹aḵrÄ«, p. 275. Gazetteer of Afghanistan I, pp. 85-86.
Ḥodūd al-ʿĀlam, ed. Sotūda, p. 121; tr. Minorsky, pp. 121, 364-66.
M oḥammad-NÄder Khan, RÄhnemÄ-ye Qaá¹á¸¡an wa BadaḵšÄn, red. BorhÄn-al-DÄ«n KÅ«škakÄ«, ed. M. SotÅ«da, Tehran, 1367 Š./1988, index, s.v.; tr. M. Reut as Qataghan et Badakhshan, 3 vols., Paris, 1979.
Moqaddasī, pp. 50, 296, 303.
J. Wood, A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus, London, 1872, pp. 204-6.
(C. Edmund Bosworth)
Originally Published: December 15, 1998
Last Updated: January 19, 2012
This article is available in print.
Vol. VIII, Fasc. 6, p. 614
