1st Edition
Ancient and Early Medieval Kingdoms of the Pamir Region of Central Asia Historical Shughnān and its Lost Capital
Introduction; PART 1: Historical survey of Shughnān; The earliest habitation of the Pamirs (10,000–2,000 BCE); Theories on the ancient peoples and societies of the Pamirs (2,000–1,000 BCE); The Kāfirs and the Mak people; The Sakas/Scythians, Achaemenids, Greeks and Macedonians (6th–2nd centuries BCE); The Yuèzhī, Kushans, Kidarites/Chionites and Hephtalites (2nd century BCE – 6th century CE); The Turkic kaghans (6th–8th centuries CE); Xuánzàng’s description of Shughnān; The rise of the Chinese Tang Dynasty (7th–8th centuries CE); Shughnān during the Chinese–Tibetan confrontation (the first half of the 8th century CE); The Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, Ṭāhirid and Sāmānid states (8th–10th centuries CE); On the names and origins of the earliest kings of Shughnān; Conclusion to Part 1 – Progress, problems and potential for future research; PART 2: The search for the lost capital of Shughnān – the town of Kǔhán; The passage from the Táng Shū, and its Russian, French and German translations; The search for Kǔhán outside present-day Shughnān; The Search for Kǔhán within present-day Shughnān
Biography
Muzaffar Zoirshoevich Zoolshoev is Research Assistant in the Central Asian Studies Unit, Department of Academic Research and Publications at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, United Kingdom. His research focuses on the history and culture of the peoples of Central Asia and he is the author of several articles and chapters on this subject.
"While Shughnān has often been disregarded on account of its remoteness and mountainous terrain, Zoolshoev makes a compelling case for revisiting the region’s significance as a regional political actor and trade conduit...it will undoubtedly serve as the definitive reference point for any further research on these issues." - The Medieval Review
