Esfarāyen

Esfarayen was an old city of western Khorasan, set between the mountains and the cultivated plains on the approaches to Nishapur. Its ruined predecessor, known as Belqeys, preserves the outline of a substantial fortified settlement. The great earthen citadel with its towers stood within a wider town, a reminder of Esfarayen's place among the cities of the region.

In the sixteenth century Esfarayen lay in the path of the struggle between the Safavids and the Uzbek rulers of Transoxiana. By 1529 the Uzbek leader Ubayd Allah Khan controlled territory extending between Esfarayen and Balkh. The region remained exposed to the movements of armies across Khorasan, and its old city eventually fell into ruin. The surviving walls show the scale of the defences built to protect a town on this contested frontier.