Uzbekistan | Bukhara | Magok-i Attari | Perigee of the Moon

As you are no doubt aware the Perigee of Moon, the moment when the moon got the closest to the Earth during the current lunar cycle, occurred at 4:21 a.m on Wednesday, March 6. This month the moon was 229,878 miles from earth at the Perigee. What better place to observe this month’s Perigee of the Moon than at the foundations of the old Moon Temple in Bukhara, Uzbekistan? I won’t bore you with the details of how I got from Zaisan Tolgoi in Mongolia to Uzbekistan; suffice it to say I  winged off from the Ulaanbaatar airport at 11:50 Monday evening and arrived in Bukhara at 8:55 a.m. on Wednesday morning. After quickly stashing my portmanteau at Komil’s Guesthouse I headed for the former Magoki-Attari Mosque, which apparently stands on or near the foundations of the old Moon Temple. 

Entrance to Komil’s Guesthouse (click on photos for enlargements)

I arrived 9:20 a.m., almost three hours after the Perigee, but no doubt early enough to catch the effects of the afterglow. The old Magok-i Attari Mosque is now a carpet museum, but the tourist season had not yet really begun yet in Bukhara and it was locked up tight.

As can be seen, Magoki-Attari now sits in a depression ten to twenty five lower than street level. The lower level is reached by staircases.

We first learn about this temple in Narshakhi’s The History of Bukhara, written in the 940s during the Samanid era (892 a.d.–999 a.d.), with addendum later added by another author. Although Narskhakhi‘s History is an invaluable source for the early history of the Bukhara Oasis, his accounts are at times less than concise and even muddled. Thus we have to tread quite carefully through his account of the temple that now serves as carpet museum. He speaks first of the market that existed on the site of the temple or grew up around a temple already located on the site. Twice a year, we are told, a fair was held in this market at which idols were sold. He does not specifically say what kind of idols these were but apparently they were dedicated to a moon God named Makh or Mokh. Anyhow, people would come and buy idols to replace ones that had become broken or gotten lost. In just one day of the fair 50,000 dirhams, an enormous amount of money at the time, were spent on these idols. “Everyone bought an idol for himself and brought it home,” Narshakhi tells us. Unfortunately he gives no description of these idols nor does he say how they used by their owners after they acquired them. “Later this place,” he adds, become a fire-temple.” By fire temple he probably meant a Zoroastrian temple, although this point has been disputed. Zoroastrianism was present in Bukhara in the pre-Islamic days of the Sogdians, whose contacts from one end of the Silk Road to the other had also brought them in contact with Buddhism, Christianity, and probably Judaism.

Southern side of Magok-i Attari

The sale of the idols—which we are still assuming belong to some lunar cult—continued after the Zoroastrian temple came into use. “On the day of the fair [where lunar idols were sold], when the people gathered, all went into the fire-temple and worshipped fire”, according to Narshakhi. “The fire-temple existed to the time of Islam [early eighth century] when the Muslims seized power and built a mosque on that place. Today [in the mid-tenth century] it is one of the most esteemed mosques in Bukhara”, according to Narshakhi. 

Amazing enough, the fair at which lunar idols were sold continued on even into Islamic times. Narshakhi tells of one important local Muslim personage who “was very astonished that this should be allowed. He asked the elders and sheiks the reason for this. They said that the inhabitants of Bukhara in olden times had been idol-worshippers. They were permitted to have this fair, and from that time on they had sold idols in it. It has remained thus today.” Thus tradition and custom seemed to override the strict prohibitions against idol worship found in Islam. It is not clear exactly when the sale of idols did stop.

Other sources, some of them admittedly ephemeral, suggest that the temple known as the Mokh (moon) Temple which apparently stood on the site of the later Zoroastrian temple may have served as a cult center for a Moon God originally worshipped in ancient Assyria and Babylonia. This god was known as Sin (or Suen) in the Akkadian language and Nanna in the Sumerian language. The chief centers of the cult were the Sumerian city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia, which dates to a least 5800 years ago, and Harran in northern Mesopotamia. The moon God Nanna was considered the tutelary deity of Ur. The Ziggurat of Ur, which contained the shrine of the moon god Nanna, was built in the 21st century b.c. and its partially restored ruins still stand today. Gradually this cult seeped eastward across the Iranian Plateau and eventually northeastward across the Amu Darya River into Transoxiania, eventually seeding itself in Bukhara. The exact connections between the moon god of Mesopotamia and the moon god apparently worshipped at the Mokh Temple must, however, remain a matter of speculation. In any case, Islamic orthodoxy at some point reasserted itself and the moon cult was stamped out, and by the middle of the tenth-century it was, as Narshakhi noted, one of the most important mosques in Bukhara. 

According to archeological sources, the building stands at the core of the ancient Sogdian city of Bukhara dating back some 2500 years. By the fifth century a.d. the site was occupied by a Zoroastrian Temple and still later by a Buddhist temple, an detail which Narshakhi fails to note. In any case, by the eleventh century the mosque and attendant market was located just south of the Shahristan, or Inner City, Wall, one of two walls around the city of Bukhara proper. Narshakhi mentions that a river ran along one side of the bazaar. This may refer to an old water course now occupied by the Shah Rud Canal, which currently runs along the south side of the mosque complex. 

The name by which the mosque became known is subject to dispute. Some maintain Magok-i Attari means “mosque in the pit” or “the scented pit. The former name refers to the fact that the surrounding area, has been filled in and elevated with the passage of time, leaving the mosque in a depression now from ten to twenty feet lower. The level of the mosque is now reached by flights of stairs from the nearby streets. The name “the scented pit” supposedly refers to the nearby market which by Islamic times specialized in aromatic herbs.

The mosque, especially its southern portal, underwent extensive repairs during the reign of the Qarakhanids in the twelfth century. More restoration and construction was carried out in 1546-7 by the Ashtrakhanid ruler Abdul Aziz Khan. Indeed, most of the present building, with the exception of the southern portal, dates to this time. Additions included the eastern portal, built at street level to allow access to the mosque which by that time was over ten feet lower than the surrounding neighborhood. 

Southern Portal of Magok-i Attari

The ruins of the old bazaar in front of Magok-i Attari. This is presumably the market where the moon idols were sold and later aromatic herbs and other goods. 

 The ruins of the old bazaar in front of Magok-i Attari

 The ruins of the old bazaar in front of Magok-i Attari

The ruins of the old bazaar in front of Magok-i Attari

Uzbekistan | Bukhara | Magok-i Attari | Perigee of the Moon

As you are no doubt aware the Perigee of Moon, the moment when the moon got the closest to the Earth during the current lunar cycle, occurred at 4:21 a.m on Wednesday, March 6. This month the moon was 229,878 miles from earth at the Perigee. What better place to observe this month’s Perigee of the Moon than at the foundations of the old Moon Temple in Bukhara, Uzbekistan? I won’t bore you with the details of how I got from Zaisan Tolgoi in Mongolia to Uzbekistan; suffice it to say I  winged off from the Ulaanbaatar airport at 11:50 Monday evening and arrived in Bukhara at 8:55 a.m. on Wednesday morning. After quickly stashing my portmanteau at Komil’s Guesthouse I headed for the former Magoki-Attari Mosque, which apparently stands on or near the foundations of the old Moon Temple. 

Entrance to Komil’s Guesthouse (click on photos for enlargements)

I arrived 9:20 a.m., almost three hours after the Perigee, but no doubt early enough to catch the effects of the afterglow. The old Magok-i Attari Mosque is now a carpet museum, but the tourist season had not yet really begun yet in Bukhara and it was locked up tight.

As can be seen, Magoki-Attari now sits in a depression ten to twenty five lower than street level. The lower level is reached by staircases.

We first learn about this temple in Narshakhi’s The History of Bukhara, written in the 940s during the Samanid era (892 a.d.–999 a.d.), with addendum later added by another author. Although Narskhakhi‘s History is an invaluable source for the early history of the Bukhara Oasis, his accounts are at times less than concise and even muddled. Thus we have to tread quite carefully through his account of the temple that now serves as carpet museum. He speaks first of the market that existed on the site of the temple or grew up around a temple already located on the site. Twice a year, we are told, a fair was held in this market at which idols were sold. He does not specifically say what kind of idols these were but apparently they were dedicated to a moon God named Makh or Mokh. Anyhow, people would come and buy idols to replace ones that had become broken or gotten lost. In just one day of the fair 50,000 dirhams, an enormous amount of money at the time, were spent on these idols. “Everyone bought an idol for himself and brought it home,” Narshakhi tells us. Unfortunately he gives no description of these idols nor does he say how they used by their owners after they acquired them. “Later this place,” he adds, become a fire-temple.” By fire temple he probably meant a Zoroastrian temple, although this point has been disputed. Zoroastrianism was present in Bukhara in the pre-Islamic days of the Sogdians, whose contacts from one end of the Silk Road to the other had also brought them in contact with Buddhism, Christianity, and probably Judaism.

Southern side of Magok-i Attari

The sale of the idols—which we are still assuming belong to some lunar cult—continued after the Zoroastrian temple came into use. “On the day of the fair [where lunar idols were sold], when the people gathered, all went into the fire-temple and worshipped fire”, according to Narshakhi. “The fire-temple existed to the time of Islam [early eighth century] when the Muslims seized power and built a mosque on that place. Today [in the mid-tenth century] it is one of the most esteemed mosques in Bukhara”, according to Narshakhi. 

Amazing enough, the fair at which lunar idols were sold continued on even into Islamic times. Narshakhi tells of one important local Muslim personage who “was very astonished that this should be allowed. He asked the elders and sheiks the reason for this. They said that the inhabitants of Bukhara in olden times had been idol-worshippers. They were permitted to have this fair, and from that time on they had sold idols in it. It has remained thus today.” Thus tradition and custom seemed to override the strict prohibitions against idol worship found in Islam. It is not clear exactly when the sale of idols did stop.

Other sources, some of them admittedly ephemeral, suggest that the temple known as the Mokh (moon) Temple which apparently stood on the site of the later Zoroastrian temple may have served as a cult center for a Moon God originally worshipped in ancient Assyria and Babylonia. This god was known as Sin (or Suen) in the Akkadian language and Nanna in the Sumerian language. The chief centers of the cult were the Sumerian city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia, which dates to a least 5800 years ago, and Harran in northern Mesopotamia. The moon God Nanna was considered the tutelary deity of Ur. The Ziggurat of Ur, which contained the shrine of the moon god Nanna, was built in the 21st century b.c. and its partially restored ruins still stand today. Gradually this cult seeped eastward across the Iranian Plateau and eventually northeastward across the Amu Darya River into Transoxiania, eventually seeding itself in Bukhara. The exact connections between the moon god of Mesopotamia and the moon god apparently worshipped at the Mokh Temple must, however, remain a matter of speculation. In any case, Islamic orthodoxy at some point reasserted itself and the moon cult was stamped out, and by the middle of the tenth-century it was, as Narshakhi noted, one of the most important mosques in Bukhara. 

According to archeological sources, the building stands at the core of the ancient Sogdian city of Bukhara dating back some 2500 years. By the fifth century a.d. the site was occupied by a Zoroastrian Temple and still later by a Buddhist temple, an detail which Narshakhi fails to note. In any case, by the eleventh century the mosque and attendant market was located just south of the Shahristan, or Inner City, Wall, one of two walls around the city of Bukhara proper. Narshakhi mentions that a river ran along one side of the bazaar. This may refer to an old water course now occupied by the Shah Rud Canal, which currently runs along the south side of the mosque complex. 

The name by which the mosque became known is subject to dispute. Some maintain Magok-i Attari means “mosque in the pit” or “the scented pit. The former name refers to the fact that the surrounding area, has been filled in and elevated with the passage of time, leaving the mosque in a depression now from ten to twenty feet lower. The level of the mosque is now reached by flights of stairs from the nearby streets. The name “the scented pit” supposedly refers to the nearby market which by Islamic times specialized in aromatic herbs.

The mosque, especially its southern portal, underwent extensive repairs during the reign of the Qarakhanids in the twelfth century. More restoration and construction was carried out in 1546-7 by the Ashtrakhanid ruler Abdul Aziz Khan. Indeed, most of the present building, with the exception of the southern portal, dates to this time. Additions included the eastern portal, built at street level to allow access to the mosque which by that time was over ten feet lower than the surrounding neighborhood. 

Southern Portal of Magok-i Attari

The ruins of the old bazaar in front of Magok-i Attari. This is presumably the market where the moon idols were sold and later aromatic herbs and other goods. 

 The ruins of the old bazaar in front of Magok-i Attari

 The ruins of the old bazaar in front of Magok-i Attari

The ruins of the old bazaar in front of Magok-i Attari

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Ninth Nine-Nine | Ерийн дулаан болно

The ninth and last of the Nine-Nines—nine periods of nine days each, each period marked by some description of winter weather—begins today, March 3. This last Nine is Ерийн дулаан болно: the time when warm weather starts, signaling the end of winter. The Eighth Nine-Nine, you will recall, was the Time When Puddles Appear. Indeed, several afternoons last week I did notice puddles along the road from my hovel to Zaisan Tolgoi. Yesterday the temperature got up to 28º F. in the afternoon, and today is calling for the same. In fact yesterday afternoon my finely attuned olfactory organs detect a whiff of spring in the air, so we can start looking forward to the next big event in Zaisan Tolgoi, the Appearance of the First Wild Flower.

The Spring Equinox, signaling the arrive of Spring, does not course of course occur until March 20, but with the beginning of the last of the nine Nine-Nines winter, my favorite time of the year in Zaisan Tolgoi, is except for the shouting pretty much over.  So I am out of here!!!

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Eighth Nine-Nine | Нал шал болно

The eighth of the Nine-Nines—nine periods of nine days each, each period marked by some description of winter weather—begins today, February 22. This is Нал шал болно, the time when puddles appear on the ground. As the name indicates, it should now be getting warm enough in the afternoons for snow to melt and puddles of water to appear. It was still Minus 20º F. at eight this morning, but the forecast is for a high of 16º above this afternoon. If it actually reaches this temperature it may be the warmest day yet this year. While 16º above F. is of course well below freezing, radiant heat, on black rocks for instance, should be enough to melt snow and ice. So it is quite possible that some puddles will appear this afternoon. In no time at all it will be time for the First Wildflowers To Appear.

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Eighth Nine-Nine | Нал шал болно

The eighth of the Nine-Nines—nine periods of nine days each, each period marked by some description of winter weather—begins today, February 22. This is Нал шал болно, the time when puddles appear on the ground. As the name indicates, it should now be getting warm enough in the afternoons for snow to melt and puddles of water to appear. It was still Minus 20º F. at eight this morning, but the forecast is for a high of 16º above this afternoon. If it actually reaches this temperature it may be the warmest day yet this year. While 16º above F. is of course well below freezing, radiant heat, on black rocks for instance, should be enough to melt snow and ice. So it is quite possible that some puddles will appear this afternoon. In no time at all it will be time for the First Wildflowers To Appear.

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Moon Apogee

Feeling a bit down? Well, maybe it is because the moon will reach its Apogee today. Here in Zaisan Tolgoi the apogee occurs at 2:21 p.m. At this time the moon will be 251,327 miles away, the farthest it gets from the earth during the current cycle. Tonight the moon will also swing by the top of Orion, which should get all the Egyptologists out of their funk. 

Graphic courtesy of Sky & Telescope

As all you Devotees Of The Moon God Sin know (I’m looking at you, Puabi), the Full Moon is coming up on February 26. And all you Neo-Pantheists (you know who you are) should get your Elk Antler Headgear out of the closet! Is another meteor too much to pray for?

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Moon Apogee

Feeling a bit down? Well, maybe it is because the moon will reach its Apogee today. Here in Zaisan Tolgoi the apogee occurs at 2:21 p.m. At this time the moon will be 251,327 miles away, the farthest it gets from the earth during the current cycle. Tonight the moon will also swing by the top of Orion, which should get all the Egyptologists out of their funk. 

Graphic courtesy of Sky & Telescope

As all you Devotees Of The Moon God Sin know (I’m looking at you, Puabi), the Full Moon is coming up on February 26. And all you Neo-Pantheists (you know who you are) should get your Elk Antler Headgear out of the closet! Is another meteor too much to pray for?

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Seventh Nine Nine | Doviin Tolgoi Borlono

The seventh of the so-called Nine-Nines—nine periods of nine days each, each period marked by some description of winter weather—began five days ago, on February 13. The Seventh of the Nine-Nines is Doviin Tolgoi Borlono, the “time when the tops of the hills become brown.” This would seem to indicate that it should be getting a bit warmer and some snow should be melting. I waited five days for this to happen, but now it does not appear that it will. Just yesterday we had fresh snow both here in Zaisan Tolgoi and on the nearby mountaintops. And this morning it is still Minus 26º F. with an expected high today of only Minus 8º F. Next Big Event: Spring Equinox in 30 days!

Uzbekistan | Bukhara Oasis | Paikend

In a post about the Early Sogdian History of the Bukhara Oasis I mentioned the ancient cities of Paikend and Varakhsha. I would be remiss if I did not make a few more observations about Paikend, known during its prime as “the city of merchants”, or “the copper town” (apparently for the quality of its copperware). Located at the southern entranceway to the Bukhara Oasis, Paikend may well be older than Bukhara itself, and for much of the first millenium a.d. may have been the more important of the two cities. It was the first major city in Sogdiana north of the Amu Darya River and most caravans that crossed the Amu Darya at Amol would have passed through the city. Through Amol it was linked to Merv in Khorasan and the great Silk Road cities of the Iranian Plateau and Mesopotamia beyond. From the east much of the caravan trade from China, Mongolia, and East Turkestan (now Xinjiang Province, China), would have been funneled through the city. Paikend was also famous for its locally produced silk, glassware, copperware, pottery, armor, and weapons. Chinese, Arab, Indian, Afghani, Persian, and European merchants could be found searching for bargains in the city’s marts and roistering in the less salubrious districts. 

Bukhara-Paikend-Amol Route (click on images for enlargements)

On source suggests that since so many of the men are often out of town on trade missions the city itself was garrisoned at least in part by women. Girls were taught horseback riding and archery from an early age.  Finely carved bone rings found in the ruins baffled archeologists for years before it was determined that women wore them on their middle fingers as a guard when drawing a bow string. Famously independent, the women of the city were known to pick out their own husbands and may have engaged in polyandry, a practice not unknown in societies where one husband could be gone for years at a time on trade expeditions and a spare or two would come in handy. 

As mentioned in an earlier post about the Arab Invasions of Sogdiana, Paikend was invaded by Islamic armies in the first decade of the eighth century and thoroughly plundered. Enormous amounts of booty were seized, including armor and weapons the quality of which amazed the Arabs. Ephemeral sources also indicate that numerous gold and silver “idols” were also looted and melted down for their metal. Whether these were Buddhist statues or those of some indigenous religion is not clear. Buddhism was certainly known of and probably practiced in Paikend, along with a host of other religions, including Zoroastrianism and Nestorian Christianity. The city did recover and was rebuilt, as demonstrated by the remains of the mosque and minaret built after the Arab conquest. Presumably the city was no longer garrisoned by women after the arrive of Islam. 

The Tenth-Century Historian Narshakhi wrote that the merchants of the city had become extremely rich on account of the trade with China, and that any trader from the region who went to Baghdad was more likely to brag that he was from Paikend than from Bukhara. At one time nearly 1000 ribats, or caravanserais, surrounded the city. The record is far from clear, but apparently Paikend fell from grace due to the lowering water table which left the city, which sits on a low rise, high and dry. In the early twelfth-century the Khwarezmshah Arslan attempted to revive Paikend by supplying it with water via a new canal, but construction of the waterway proved to be too difficult and the project was eventually abandoned. Today Paikend is in ruins, but traces of its former greatness can still be seen, and if you listen very carefully you can still hear the muted laughter of women from the city’s battlements. 

Watchtowers in the old city wall were located about 180 feet from each other

 Fortifications in the city wall

 Fortifications in the city wall

 Fortifications in the city wall

 Fortifications in the city wall

A residential district within the city walls

Residential district within the city walls

 Ruins of residences

 Ruins of residences

 Ruins of residences. The function of the round hole,which is lined with brick is not clear.

 Remnants of a large wok-like metal structure

 Looking from the residential area toward the Citadel

Ruins of the Citadel

Ruins of the mosque next to the Citadel

 Ruins of the mosque

Base of the minaret next to the mosque. The base is larger in diameter of the still-existing 155-foot Kalon Minaret in Bukhara, which has led some to speculate that it may have been higher than the Kalon Minaret. 

 Floor of the Citadel

 Paving stones on the floor of the Citadel

 Building connected with the Citadel. The purpose of the round hole in the wall is unclear.

 A well near the Citadel. It is now dry. 

 Looking south from the Citadel

 Another residential area

 Ruins of residential area

Ruins of residential area

Archeologists claim this is the ruins of an apothecary. Broken glass and pottery containers with traces of plants and other medicinal substances in them were found here. 

 The main artery through the city leading to the southern gate. It is not entirely clear from the available sources, but it may be that for security reasons city had only one gate—this gate opening to the south.

 Looking north along the the main artery through the city leading to the southern gate

The main artery. Ruins of merchant stalls can be seen to the right.

 Merchant stalls lining the main artery

The main artery from the southern gate of the city. This may have been the city’s only gate.

A high-class residential district, probably inhabited by wealthy merchants, just east of the southern gate. 

 Upper-class residential district. The brick structure may have been a cistern. 

Well in the upper-class district

Ruins of ribats, or caravanserais, just outside the walls of the city at the southern gates. At one time there were close to 1000 of these ribats surrounding the city. 

Locals are still uncovering artifacts from the ruins. This young man has a pottery vessel which an archeologist whom I consulted said was used to store mercury. Apparently there are other examples in museums. Among its many other uses, mercury was used in processing gold, and was exceeding valuable in Sogdian times. Shards of common pottery are found everywhere within the ruins. 

 Detail of pottery vessel

Vineyards outside the ruins of the city walls