History of Bukhara

cult center for the worship of Anahita, and her associated temple economy. Approximately once a lunar cycle, the inhabitants of the Zeravshan Fan exchanged their old idols of the goddess for new ones. The trade festival took place in front of the Mokh Temple. This festival was important in assuring the fertility of land on which all inhabitants of the delta depended. As a result of the trade festivals, Bukhara became a center of commerce. The gold 20-stater of the Greco-Bactrian king Eucratides (170-145 BC), the largest gold coin ever minted in antiquity weighing 169.2 grams was found in Bukhara. It was later acquired by Napoleon III. Cabinet des Médailles, Paris.

As trade accelerated along the silk road after the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) pushed back the northern tribes to secure this key trading route, the already prosperous city of Bukhara then became the logical choice for a market. The silk trade itself created a growth boom in the city which ended around 350 BCE. After the fall of the Kushan Empire, Bukhara passed into the hands of Hua tribes from Mongolia and entered a steep decline.

Prior to the Arab invasion, Bukhara was a stronghold for followers of two persecuted religious movements within the Sassanian Empire, that is, Manicheanism and Nestorian Christianity. In and around Bukhara many coins have been discovered with Christian symbols such as crosses, dating around the late seventh or early eighth centuries. Scholars have suggested that due to the large amount of coins Christianity have been the official religion of the ruling caste. More coins with crosses have been found around Bukhara than anywhere else in Central Asia.

When the Islamic armies arrived in 650 AD, they found a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and