On December 5-7, 2007, the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, hosted an international scientific conference dedicated to the problems of studying the ancient settlement of Nisa, the ancient first capital of the Parthian state, as well as the problems of the history and culture of the peoples of the Central Asian region in antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The conference was held in accordance with the decree of the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov by the staff of the National Cultural Center "Miras", with the participation of the Ministry of Culture and Television and Radio Broadcasting and the hyakimlik of the Ahal velayat. The conference was attended by scientists from Armenia, Germany, Holland, India, Jordan, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, UNESCO representative in Tehran and the Middle East. Among the participants of the conference were Turkmen and foreign specialists who studied the Nisu hillfort, the history, culture and art of Parthia and inter-ethnic relations at different times. -

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This ancient monument has been restored and other objects in the territory of Turkmenistan have been preserved by the nomadic and sedentary peoples of Central Asia, as well as those who were engaged in the restoration of this ancient monument and museumification of other objects in the territory of Turkmenistan. Unfortunately, some well-known Russian archaeologists who worked in this country for many years during the Soviet period and made a great contribution to the study of the Nisa and other archaeological sites of Turkmenistan could not attend the conference. The conference was timed to coincide with the inclusion of Nisa in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The honorary diploma certifying this decision was solemnly presented by the Director of the UNESCO Tehran Cluster Center, Khan Guli, to G. Berdimuhamedov. This event was broadcast by Turkmen television for several days.

The plenary session of the conference opened with a speech Han Guli UNESCO), which stressed the importance of preserving cultural values in modern conditions and reported that the Nisa was recognized as a World Cultural Heritage site and awarded a UNESCO diploma.

A series of reports at the plenary session was opened by the speech of Zh. K. Taimagambetov (Kazakhstan), which touched upon the issues of the initial settlement of the territory of Central Asia in the Stone Age, as well as the interaction of nomadic and settled populations in subsequent historical periods on the example of studying the archaeological sites of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. M. Naseri (Iran) stressed the need to preserve cultural heritage in the Middle East as a factor contributing to peace and stability. In his opinion, the historical past of the peoples of this region is so closely intertwined that it is difficult to separate their history from each other. He tried to explain his thoughts by referring to the celebration of Novruz-the New Year, which, according to the ancient Iranian tradition, is celebrated with the arrival of spring in a number of Islamic countries in the Near and Middle East, Transcaucasia and the Volga region.

V. Kliment (USA) spoke about how the Nisa hillfort is being studied by American scientists. According to her, the main attention to Nisa, one of the main cities of the Seljuk state, and Central Asian nomadic traditions was paid by American authors who study the problems of intercivilizational contacts along the Silk Road. According to V. Kliment, in recent years Turkmenistan has become a place of "pilgrimage" for tourists, archaeologists and art historians from Western countries.

D.'s speech Padmalochana (India) was devoted to the strong trade relations of the ancient and medieval population of Turkmenistan, residents of the cities of Nisa and Merv with India. These connections, according to the speaker, are evidenced by the finds of ivory products discovered during excavations at the Parthian settlement of Nisa.

A. Sabri (Jordan) reported on the activities of the medieval Muslim theologian, Imam Al-Nisai, a native of Nisa, which in the Middle Ages was a kind of Mecca for scholars of the Islamic world. However, most of the life and work of this imam was connected with Damascus, where he had a circle of followers. More detailed information about the biography of this imam was contained in the report M. K. Yasharoglu (Turkey). From the information he collected, it became known that Al-Nisai lived not only in Syria, but also in Egypt and Palestine, visited Khorasan, Iraq, and Hijaz, and studied hadith from famous imams Bukhari and Muslim. The speaker gave the names of the main works of Imam An-Nisai.

Employee of the Hamburg Museum R. M. Weiss (Germany) spoke about the successful cooperation of scientists of Turkmenistan with archaeologists from the USA, Italy, France and Germany in the course of joint works carried out in recent years in Anau, Merv, and Nis. One of the important areas of such cooperation, according to the speaker, is the organization of joint exhibitions of archaeological finds in Germany and other countries.

In the message A. H. Khan (Pakistan) It was noted that the Nisa is not the only monument on the territory of Turkmenistan that is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Back in 1999, Merv was included in this list, and in 2005 - Kunyaurgench.

Further, the conference was divided into five sections: "The era of independence and international cooperation in studying and preserving the historical and cultural heritage of Turkmenistan"; "The role of Nisa in the development of world culture"; "The capital of the Parthian Empire Nisa - a connecting bridge between East and West"; "Nisa-the birthplace of great thinkers of the East"; " Ancient Nisa - treasury of the cultural heritage of the Turkmen people". Despite

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despite the differences in names, the sections differed little thematically. Almost all sections presented reports on the problems of archeology, ancient and medieval history of Central Asia.

Since the meetings were held in different institutions in Ashgabat, often located far from each other, it was not possible to listen to reports at all sections. The author of this communication participated in the fourth section.

The meeting opened with a speech A. Hakobyan (Armenia), who described the Armenian source "The Tale of Vachagan", which contains information about the Arsacid dynasties, descendants of the founder of the Parthian state, ruling in the Albanian and Muscutite kingdoms. This source, the speaker noted, has recently attracted the attention of specialists. Fragments of the work are contained in the "History of Albania", written in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, but it deals with events of an earlier period, which may be of interest to historians of Parthia and Iran.

R. Godarov (Turkmenistan) analyzed the work of the sixteenth-century Turkmen scholar Salar Baba "Jamyg ut-Tarykh", commissioned by Ali Sultan, the governor of the Khiva Khan in Khorasan. The essay contains information about the medieval history of Central Asia. Some of them are drawn from the works of Biruni, Rashid al-Din, Kamalsheri Bakhshi and other medieval authors.

Report F. Boboeva (Tajikistan) was devoted to Imam Al-Nisai's essay "Sunan", which was already mentioned in some reports at the plenary session. The speaker gave more accurate and detailed information about the life of the imam and the content of his work. An-Nisai studied with prominent Muslim theologians in Central Asia, Iraq, Syria, and Egypt in the ninth and tenth centuries, and specialized in the study and interpretation of hadiths-information about the life and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad. According to the speaker, experts in hadith memorized them by heart, and in the composition of An-Nisai there were 5761 such sayings, grouped by the imam by topic in 51 books.

Topic of the report by D. Razov and D. Annaeva (Turkmenistan) - fiction of the Parthian era (on the example of the poem "Vis and Ramin"). In their opinion, the poem influenced the development of fiction in the East and West. It formed the basis not only for such famous lyrical works of Iranian poets as Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, "Khosrow and Shirin "and" Leyli and Majnun "by Nizami, but also the Celtic epic poem "Tristan and Isolde", as well as" Don Quixote "by M. Cervantes and" Romeo and Juliet " by W. Shakespeare, which raises doubts.

R. AL. Haniki (Iran) dedicated the report to the Nisa in its Islamic period. He specified that Nisa was founded in 171 BC by Mihrdat Arshakid and was originally called "Mihrdat". This city, according to the speaker, occupied a "high place" in the Parthian Empire. However, its cultural heyday dates back to the X-XI centuries, when prominent Muslim scholars lived here.

Speech by G. Yagshymuradov (Turkmenistan) was dedicated to the entry of Nisa into the Arab Caliphate. According to the speaker, the first preachers of Islam appeared on the territory of Turkmenistan during the life of the Prophet Muhammad. Arab conquests in the area date back to the middle of the seventh century. The report's claim that Islam spread in Turkmenistan long before the conquest campaigns, "on a voluntary basis", is not supported by any historical evidence. D. Bouma (Holland) also made a report on Nis in the Muslim period of its history. It referred to the activities of Imam An-Nisai in collecting hadiths and compiling them into a single composition.

T. Ashirov and O. Abdullayev (Turkmenistan) made a report on a 14th-century Turkmen scientist. Sadeddin al-Taftazani, a native of the village of Taftazan, located in the vicinity of Nisa. At-Taftazani was an expert in grammar, logic, and "other branches of science."

Yu. S. Khudyakov (Russia) spoke about Buddhist, Manichaean, and Nestorian religious symbols that became widespread on toreutical objects used by nomadic peoples of Western and Southern Siberia, ancient Turks, Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, and Kimaks in the early Middle Ages. In a speech H. Ishankuliyeva and A. Garayeva (Turkmenistan) it was mentioned that the Muslim scholar Abusagyt Abylkhair stayed in medieval Nis. In addition to Nisa, he also visited Amul, Mary, Tus, Nishapur and other religious centers of the Muslim East, where he "received wise knowledge".

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E. S. Kulpin-Gubaidullin and A. A. Burkhanov (Russia) in their joint report "The Middle Amu Darya between the Parthians and Kushans" they discussed the issues of socio-natural approach to the analysis of historical phenomena. G. Gurbanova (Turkmenistan) spoke about the name of the city "Nisa" in the works of Eastern authors. However, when asked what medieval sources she used, the speaker could only name the "Russian-Turkish Dictionary".

M. R. Peklevan (Iran) made a report with a promising title "The Rise of Arsacid art in the city of Mihrdat Kert", which, unfortunately, was devoid of illustrative support. The speaker was unable to answer all the questions that asked him to clarify what types of art he had studied, convincing the audience that his report mentioned this, but he simply did not have enough time to cover these problems in more detail. The published theses of the report refer to the ivory rhytons found during the excavations of Nisa in 1948. Despite the fact that these "amazing images" conveyed "the Greek gods of Olympus", according to the speaker, "the Arsacid style of fine art was completely different from that of Greece, revealing local roots."

G. Charyeva (Turkmenistan) considered the genre features of Parthian literature. Parthian literature, she noted, was destroyed during the destruction of the great Parthian state. In the form of fragments, only verses from the two poems "The Date Tree and the Goat" and "The Memory of Zarera" have survived, which are preserved in Persian records. M. Yagubi (Iran) proposed to consider the capital of the Parthian state Nisu as a connecting bridge between East and West. In support of his thesis, he named a lot of objects of religious, household and household purposes that came to the Nis from Western and Eastern countries. N. Gahremani (Iran) suggested that Nisa was preceded by a capital called Asaaq, and gave a number of considerations about its possible location. It was one of the few presentations that was accompanied by slides. A. Mammadzhumayev (Turkmenistan) reported on Emir Muezzi Nisaya, a court poet of the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar, who composed odes and eulogies in honor of his master and composed poems about the lives of his subjects. M. B. Shakhri (Iran) spoke about Nisa, a center for the development of Parthian architecture and urban planning. He described the location of the royal palace, administrative buildings, military barracks and residential areas in the Old and New Nis. K. Dzhanbekov (Turkmenistan) cited information from the book of An-Nisai, a close associate of the Khorezm Sultan Jalal ad-Din, which describes the struggle against the Mongols and the defense of Nisa. In the report D. M. Kiyana (Iran) "Image of Mihrdat on stone" was a stone bas-relief depicting this king and his accompanying retinue. The report was accompanied by slides with a bas-relief image.

M. Tuvakov (Turkmenistan) spoke about the literary heritage of Parthia, in particular about the legend of Tomiris, Shirak, Rustam and the "Epic of Zarera". A. Nurmukhamedov and O. Orazov (Turkmenistan) reviewed the works of Muslim scholars-theologians of the IX-XIII centuries, natives of Nisa, who collected and studied hadiths. Speech by O. Amanova (Turkmenistan) was devoted to the analysis of anthroponyms in documents from Nisa. It examines the meaning of the Parthian royal names "Mihrdat", "Artaban", "Bahiman". E. Dzhumaev and A. Yazkuliyev (Turkmenistan) analyzed the contents of a book of hadith collected by the Muslim theologian Imam al-Nisai, who has already given several reports.

A. A. Burkhanov (Russia) provided information on the history of the Amu Darya River valley. This territory in ancient times was part of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, but was influenced by Parthia (and later by the Kushans and Persians). Later, this area was included in the Yuezhi migration zone. The speaker addressed his Turkmen colleagues with a proposal for further cooperation. In his opinion, it is necessary to resume the work of a comprehensive expedition with the participation of Turkmen and Russian scientists. The Russian side could take part in the training of archaeologists for Turkmenistan.

At the final plenary session, the section leaders made presentations. The results of the conference were summed up. On behalf of the participants, the organizing committee sent a letter of thanks to the President of Turkmenistan.

The organizers offered the conference participants a rich cultural program. They were able to visit and explore the state historical and cultural reserve

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"Nisa", an ancient settlement with a well-preserved fortification, where some Parthian buildings were excavated and restored; visit the underground lake with mineral hot water "Kovata"; see monuments and museums in Ashgabat and Geoktepe. At the Gurbansoltan Eje Museum of Turkmen Carpet, visitors were shown carpets of various colors and ornaments made by craftsmen in different regions of Turkmenistan. Two huge carpets differ in their size. One of them was woven by Turkmen craftsmen back in the 1940s and for some time served as a curtain in the Bolshoi Theater. Another, even larger carpet was made in the 2000s for the anniversary of Turkmenistan's independence. This is the largest carpet in the world, as evidenced in the Guinness Book of World Records. In its coloring there are elements of ornament characteristic of all Turkmen tribes. Carpets are a national treasure and are not allowed to be exported abroad. Extensive archaeological expositions are available in the National Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, where objects of early agricultural cultures of the Eneolithic, Bronze Age and other periods are quite fully presented. the Parthian state. Ethnographic exhibits are displayed in these museums, as well as in the Geoktepe Museum. The conference participants were able to explore the central part of the city of Ashgabat, which makes a great impression with an abundance of modern architectural structures. At all these events, foreign guests were greeted by performers of national Turkmen songs, music and dances.

All the events, especially the opening and closing of the conference, were held very solemnly, including the performance of the national anthem and the oath of allegiance to the president, which was very unusual for foreign participants.

Despite the expansion of scientific contacts and joint expedition research and restoration projects with scientists from different countries, Turkmen scientists have not lost interest in cooperation with archaeologists from Russia, which was repeatedly mentioned both during the conference and at the official level. It is gratifying that young Turkmen scientists are showing interest in such cooperation and information exchange. We hope that the conference will contribute to the development of such cooperation.

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