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A Harpist and a Battle, Piandjikent
Tajikistan National Museum of Antiquities, Dushanbe.
Tajikistan National Museum of Antiquities
Fresco from Ancient Sogdian Penjikent. VI-VIII cc. AD.
Photo by Ninara
Referenced on p.53, Attila and the Nomad Hordes by David Nicolle (Author), Angus McBride (Illustrator)
The wall-paintings uncovered in the pre-Islamic palace of Piandjikent, not far from Samarkand, illustrate battles, hunting, feasting and religious celebration. Helmets are almost always very pointed with cheek-pieces and mail aventails, some pulled over the wearer's face. Warriors wear long or short-sleeved mail hauberks, some alone, others under tunics or lamellar cuirasses. Bows are carried unstrung in long cases, swords are straight and round shields are small while a distinctive form of horse-bit curves around the front of the animal's mouth. Many such features were adopted by the Muslim armies which conquered Transoxania shortly after these pictures were painted. (Hermitage Mus., Leningrad)
The middle 2 warriors are referenced as figure 428, the right warrior as 438 in The military technology of classical Islam by D Nicolle
428. Fresco from Piandjikent Reception Hall VI/1, 7th-8th centuries AD, Transoxanian, Hermitage, Leningrad (Aka S, Yaku).
438. Fresco from Piandjikent Reception Hall VI/1, 7th-8th centuries AD, Transoxanian, Hermitage, Leningrad (Aka S, Yaku).
Pendzhikent
On the basis of the excavations in Pendzhikent (fig. 35; 96, 1) (near the present-day city under the same name in north-western Tajikistan), one can conclude that each living building in the early medieval town had a plan determined by the desires and capacities of the owner. The housing in design and decor somehow reminds of the rulers palace. The technical level of construction works was in fact similar to the representation of different social strata. In the 5th - 8th centuries AD mud-brick and pakhsa masonry increased and in Tokharistan, Sogd, Ferghana, and Ustrushana there was a shift to mud-bricks with rectangular shape. A building with three floors of the 6th century AD, intended for a permanent garrison which is situated in eastern wall of fortress, is related to the time of the Hephthalites in Pendzhikent.
The wall paintings of Pendzhikent (fig. 37; 38) are considered as depicting realistic characters and are the source of opinions on the ethnic composition of the population. According to A. Belenitsky, representatives of three ethnic groups are shown in these paintings - Sogdians, Turks and Kushan-Hephthalites. Ilyasov discussing the tamgha of the Pendzhikent ruler’s coins of the second half of 7th century, Gamaukyan (or Hamaukyan), notes that these are most likely of Chionite-Hephthalite origin. Based on the material from Pendzhikent a ceramic sequence was established covering the 5th century to the first half of the 8th century AD (fig. 36). The defined periods are: 5th century; end of 5th century – beginning of 6th century; 6th – beginning of 7th century; middle of 7th century; end of 7th - 8th century; and first quarter of 8th century AD.
Source: The Hephthalites: Archaeological And Historical Analysis by Aydogdy Kurbanov
Upper drawing of Fig. 37: Sogdian Mural in House III/60, Panjakent, 6th-8th Centuries. State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
Fig. 38: Detail of Rostam portrayed as a Sogdian, Mural in the ‘Rustam Room’: Rustam cycle, Panjakent.
