Ikhshids of Sogdia

Ikhshids of Sogdia
Unash
642–755 CE
Coin of Sogdian ruler Turgar, Ikhshid of Samarkand. Profile and name of the ruler on the obverse, fire altar with attendants on the reverse. Excavated in Penjikent, 8th century CE, National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan.[1] of Ikhshids of Sogdia
Coin of Sogdian ruler Turgar, Ikhshid of Samarkand. Profile and name of the ruler on the obverse, fire altar with attendants on the reverse. Excavated in Penjikent, 8th century CE, National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan.[1]
CapitalSamarkand
Common languagesSogdian
Religion
Zoroastrianism
Historical eraLate antiquity
• Established
642
• Disestablished
755 CE
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Hephthalites
Western Turkic Khaganate
Umayyad Caliphate
Abbasid Caliphate

The Ikhshids of Sogdia, or Ikhshids of Samarkand, were a series of rulers of Soghdia in Transoxiana, with their capital at Samarkand, during the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods.[2]

The princely title "Ikhshid" (from Sogdian: xšyδ, xšēδ "Ruler") is of Iranian origin; scholars have derived it variously from the Old Iranian root khshaeta, "shining, brilliant", or from khshāyathiya, "ruler, king" (which is also the origin of the title shah).[2] The Ikhshids of Soghdia, with their capital at Samarkand, are well attested during and after the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. The rulers of the Principality of Farghana were also called "Ikhshids".

  1. ^ Tadjikistan : au pays des fleuves d'or. Paris: Musée Guimet. 2021. p. 152. ISBN 978-9461616272.
  2. ^ a b Bosworth 1971, p. 1060.