Shahrisabz

As part of the Turkic Kaganate

From the 6th to 8th centuries, Kesh was a part of the Turkic and West Turkic Kaganates. In the 8th century the ruler-malik of Khuzar (Kesh) was Turk Subugra. Under Ton-Yabgu-Kagan (618–630) the power of Turks strengthened in Sogdia. New campaigns to Tokharistan and Afghanistan pushed the borders of the state to northwestern India. Ton-Yabgu Kagan carried out administrative reform and appointed his representatives - tuduns - in the regions, including Sogdia, to monitor and control the collection of tribute. It is assumed that he issued his coins with the inscription "Tun yabgu kagan".

An ancient Turkic tribe were the Khalaj people, who in the Early Middle Ages lived in Tokharistan – the modern territories of southern Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and northern Afghanistan.

The Turks of Central Asia worshiped the following deities: Tengri (sky), Umai (Mother Goddess), Yer-sub (Earth-Water) and Erklig (Lord of Hell), among which Tengri held the predominant position. Tengri was the most important.

Arab conquest

Kesh was conquered by the Arabs in the 8th century. During the Arab invasion, the Kashkadarya Valley and especially Kesh was the epicenter of an anti-Arab and anti-Islamic liberation movement led by Al-Muqanna, known in history as the "Revolt of the Men in White Clothes".

The resistance eventually led to the decline of the capital city. Around 701–704, there were battles between Turks and Arabs at Nessef and Kesh.

During the Samanid dynasty, urban life gradually moved to the southwest of old Kesh, the site of the large village of Barknon.

Karakhanid era

In 1038, Ibrahim ibn Nasr, who also was known as Böritigin, son of the conqueror of Transoxiana, captured Chaghaniyan, from where he invaded central Transoxiana. In 1040 he conquered Kesh. By the 10th century, the Karakhanid state had a literary language that continued the traditions of ancient turkic written texts. The official Karakhanid language of the 10th century was based on the grammatical system of ancient Karluk dialects. The Islamization of the Karakhanids and their turkic subjects played a major role in the cultural development of turkic culture. In the late 10th and early 11th centuries, for the first time in the history of the turkic peoples, the Tafsir, a commentary on the Quran, was translated into the turkic language. The 11th century scholar Mahmud Kashgari laid the foundations of turkic linguistics. He lists the names of many turkic tribes of Central Asia.

One of the famous scholars was the historian Majid al-Din al-Surhakati, who wrote "History of Turkestan", which outlined the history of the Karakhanid dynasty.

During the reign of the Karakhanids, the new capital of medieval Kesh was finally formed. During the hegemony of the Khwarazmshahs (early 13th century), Kesh-Shahrisabz was first enclosed by defensive walls.

Modern history

During World War II, in 1942, the 6th Infantry Division of the Polish Anders' Army was stationed and organized in Shahrisabz, before it was evacuated from Uzbekistan to fight against Nazi Germany. There is a Polish military cemetery in the city.

Archaeological sites near Kitob

To the north of the small village of Kumyrtepa in the Kitab District of the Kashkadarya Region, along the left bank of the small, low-water Shurabsay River, which originates from the Zarafshan Mountains, there are three hills of varying configurations running from north to south. Together, they constitute three parts of the ancient capital city of Nautaka (Padayaktepa, Uzunkyr, and Sangirtepa).

In the mid-1980s, archaeological sites in the Shurabsay micro-oasis, which are scattered within 5 kilometers of each other, were first surveyed by N.I. Krasheninnikova, a member of the KATE (Kesh Archaeological and Topographical Expedition). At that time, these three hills were identified as a citadel, the actual city, and the temple of Nautaka.

• Padayaktepa

The citadel of the city measures 270x74 meters and is located in the northern part on a high, rugged bank of the Shurabsay River. As a result of archaeological work at the site, four construction horizons have been identified. The oldest cultural layers of the settlement date back to the 9th to 8th centuries BCE. In one of the excavations in the western part of Padayaktepa, a section of a defensive wall from the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods can be traced. These walls indicate that the city of Nautaka had an aristocratic section, enclosed by a separate wall - an acropolis, similar to the ancient site of Afrasiab in Samarkand. With the end of Alexander the Great's rule, the city was abandoned, and only the acropolis of Padayaktepa continued to be inhabited. A new city emerged on the high right bank of the Aksu River, on the site of the Kalandartepa settlement, within the boundaries of the modern city of Kitab.

• Uzunkyr

Remnants of the fortification wall of the city are visible near the village of Kumyrtepa in the form of a low mound measuring more than 650 meters in length and 20 meters in width. At one time, this wall encircled the entire city, covering an area of more than 70 hectares. The original wall of the settlement was constructed from adobe-like raw bricks dating back to the 10th-9th centuries BCE, which were characteristic of ancient cities in Sogd, such as Koktepa, and Kesh. Later, during the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, and Greco-Bactrian kingdoms, extensive repairs were carried out on the fortification walls of the city.

• Sangirtepa

A standalone hill, located beyond the city walls, is situated about 650 meters to the southwest of Uzunkyr. It consists of a central hill with dimensions of 84x62 meters and a height of around 8 meters. The surrounding wall encloses an area within 3 hectares. Archaeological excavations have been conducted on this site by the Department of Archaeology at Tashkent State University (now the National University of Uzbekistan) since 1983. As a result of these excavations at Sangirtepa, a unique Zoroastrian temple was uncovered, featuring a hall in the center, an altar, and auxiliary rooms. The temple is one of the oldest religious structures in Central Asia.