Panjakent

Panjakent lies in the Zarafshan valley east of Samarkand, where the river emerges from the mountains into a fertile corridor. The ancient Sogdian city stood on a terrace above the river, with houses decorated by vivid wall paintings and temples beside its citadel. Its merchants belonged to the network that carried Sogdian goods and ideas across Central Asia. In the early eighth century the city and its ruler Divashtich resisted the Arab conquest; he was captured and killed, and the old hilltop settlement was eventually abandoned. Life continued in the valley below, amid orchards, fields and routes leading toward Samarkand.