2022
Claude Rapin et al., « The Iron Gates Wall near Derbent (Uzbekistan) from Alexander the Great to the 19th century », HAL-SHS : archéologie, ID : 10670/1.2abhuj
The Iron Gates wall near Derbent in Uzbekistan is a fortified system built by the Graeco-Bactrian ruler Euthydemus in the second half of the 3rd century BCE to counter the threat of the nomads who had just taken control of northern Sogdiana. It later became the border between the Kushan Empire and the Kangju confederation. In the Hephthalite period, a small fortress was added to the wall by the Chaganiyan principality to guard the road to Samarkand. In the 14th century CE, Tamerlane rebuilt a wall and a customs post there, enabling him to earn substantial income from international trade.Comparative analysis of data collected during excavations conducted by a team of the Franco-Uzbek Archaeological Mission of Sogdiana, together with a revision of the ancient texts, expands our understanding of the history of this monument and its influence over the centuries on administrative, political, and military levels. The data also allows us to formulate certain hypotheses – today subject to various controversies – about the original territory of pre-Kushan Sogdiana, and to address the debate on the definition of borders from antiquity to the modern era.