Suyab

Suyab (zh-cpw|c=碎葉/碎叶|p=Suìyè|w=Suiyeh, also known as "Ordukent", modern-day "Ak-Beshim") was an ancient Silk Road city located some 60 km north east from Bishkek, and 6 km southeast from Tokmok, in the Chui River valley, present-day Kyrgyzstan.

History

The settlement of Sogdian merchants sprang up along the Silk Road in the 5th or 6th centuries. The name of the city derives from that of the Suyab River,Xue (1998), p. 136-140, 212-215.] whose origin is Iranian ("suy" + Persian "ab" for "water", "rivers"). [ [http://www.talaschu.org/index.php?ID=about,en Transboundary Chu-Talas] ] It was first recorded by Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang who travelled in the area in 629: [Ji (1985), p. 25.] [Ye. I. Lubo-Lesnichenko. "Svedeniya kitaiskikh pismennykh istochnikov o Suyabe (Gorodishche Ak-Beshim)". ["Information of Chinese Written Sources about Suyab (Ak-Beshim)"] . // "Suyab Ak-Beshim". St. Petersburg, 2002. Pages 115-127.]

"Traveling 500 li to the north west of Great Qing Lake, we arrive at the city of the Suye River. The city is 6 or 7 li in circuit; various Hu ("barbarian") merchants here came from surrounding nations congregate and dwell. The soil is favourable for red millet and for grapes; the woods are not thick, the climate is windy and cold; the people wear garments of twilled wool. Traveling from Suye westward, there are a great number of isolated towns; in each there is a chieftain; these are not dependent on one another, but all are in submission to the Tujue".

During the reign of Tong Yabgu Qaghan, Suyab was the principal capital of the Western Turkic Khaganate. [Great Soviet Encyclopaedia, 3rd ed. Article "Turkic Khaganate".] The khagan also had a summer capital in Navekat near the springs north of Tashkent in the Talas Valley, the capitals are being noted as the westernmost capital of Western Turkic Khaganate.Xue (1992), p. 284-285] There was a sort of symbiosis, with the Sogdians responsible for economical prosperity and the Gokturks in charge of the city's military security.

Following the downfall of the khaganate, Suyab was absorbed into the Tang Empire, of which it was a western military outpost between 648 and 719. A Chinese fortress was built there in 679, and Buddhism flourished. According to some accounts, the great poet Li Bai was born in Suyab. [Zhongguo fu li hui, Chung-kuo fu li hui. "China Reconstructs". China Welfare Institute, 1989. Page 58.] The Chinese traveller Du Huan, who visited Suyab after 751, found among the ruins a still-functioning Buddhist monastery, where Princess Jiaohe, daughter of Ashina Huaidao, used to dwell. [Forte A. "An Ancient Chinese Monastery Excavated in Kirgizia" // Central Asian Journal, 1994. Volume 38. № 1. Pages 41-57.] [Cui (2005), p. 244-246]

Suyab was one of the Four Garrisons of Anxi Protectorate until 719, when it was handed over to Sulu Khagan of the Turgesh, appointed by the Chinese court as the "Loyal and Obedient Qaghan". [Zongzheng, Xue (1992), p. 596-597, 669] After Sulu's murder in 738, the town was promptly retaken by Chinese forces, along with Talas. [Zongzheng, Xue (1992), p. 686] The fort was strategically important during the wars between the China and Tibet. In 766, the city fell to a Qarluq ruler, allied with the nascent Uyghur Khaganate.

Of the subsequent history of Suyab there is little record, especially after the Chinese evacuated the Four Garrisons in 787. David Nicolle states that Suyab provided 80,000 warriors for the Qarluq army and that it was governed by a man known as "King of Heroes". [Nicolle (1990), p. 32.] Hudud al-Alam, completed in 983, lists Suyab as a city of 20,000 inhabitants. It is believed to have been supplanted by Balasagun in the early 11th century and was abandoned soon thereafter.

Archaeological site

In the 19th century the ruins at Ak-Beshim were erroneously identified with Balasagun, the capital of the Kara-Khitans. Wilhelm Barthold, who visited the site in 1893-94, also lent his support to this identification. [Бартольд В.В. Отчет о поездке в Среднюю Азию с археологической целью ("report on an archaeological campaign in Central Asia"), collected writings, vol. 4] Although excavations started in 1938, it was not until the 1950s that it was determined that the site had been abandoned as early as the 11th century and therefore would not be identical with Balasagun, which had flourished until the 1300s. [Г.Л. Семенов. Ак-Бешим и города Семиречья. // Проблемы политогенза кыргызской государственности. ("Ak-Beshi and the cities of Semirechya - problems of politogenesis in the Kyrgyz statehood") – Бишкек: АРХИ, 2003. – с. 218-222.]

The archaeological site of Suyab covers some 30 hectares. As a testimony to Suyab's diverse and vibrant culture, the site encompasses remains of Chinese fortifications, Christian churches, Zoroastrian ossuaries, and Turkic bal-bals. The site is particularly rich in finds of Buddha statues and stelae. [Горячева В.Д., Перегудова С.Я. Буддийские памятники Киргизии ("Buddhist monuments of Kyrgystan"), pp. 187-188.] Apart from several Buddhist temples, there were a Nestorian church and cemetery from the 7th century, and probably also a 10th-century monastery with frescoes and inscriptions in Sogdian and Uyghur scripts. [Kyzlasov L.R. "Arkheologicheskie issledovaniya na gorodishche Ak-Beshim v 1953-54 gg." ["Archaeological Exploration of Ak-Beshim in 1953-54."] . // Proceedings of the Kama Archaeological Expedition. Vol. 2. Moscow, 1959. Pages 231-233.
Semyonov G.I. "Monastyrskoe vino Semirechya" ["The Wine of Semirechye Monasteries"] . // "Hermitage Readings in Memory of Boris Piotrovsky". St. Petersburg, 1999. Pages 70-74.]

Notes

References

*Cui, Mingde (2005). "The History of Chinese Heqin". Beijing: People's Press. ISBN 7-01-004828-2.
*Nicolle, David (1990). "Attila and the Nomad Hordes". Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0850459966.
*Ji, Xianlin(1985). "Journey to the West in the Great Tang Dynasty". Xi'an: Shaanxi People's Press.
*Xue, Zongzheng (1998). "Anxi and Beiting Protectorates: A Research on Frontier Policy in Tang Dynasty's Western Boundary". Harbin: Heilongjiang Education Press. ISBN 7-5316-2857-0.
*Xue, Zongzheng (1992). "A History of Turks". Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Press. ISBN 7-5004-0432-8.