Nisa - the capital of the ancient Parthian Empire

From Ashgabat, it's only a short trip to the excavations of old Nisa, one of the earliest and most vital royal strongholds of the Parthian Empire (3rd century BC – 3rd century AD).

While local residents always knew the mounds existed, Nisa was uncovered through several archaeological digs.
In the 1930s, Turkmen-Soviet archaeologists suggested that this might be the seat of the Parthian kings. But only in the 1950s and 1960s, did a TM team unearth the royal palace and other major treasures. Even now, fieldwork is ongoing by an Italian- Turkmen team.

Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007, it represents a remarkable cultural crossroads where Persian royal traditions merged with Hellenistic Greek art and Central Asian nomad culture.

The Parthians are famous for:
☝️defeating the Romans, most notably at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC.
☝️their empire rivalling Rome by conquering Persia, Mesopotamia and modern Iraq
☝️ mastering mounted warfare with heavily armoured cavalry and expert horse archers; the origin of the famous "Parthian shot," where riders fired arrows backwards while retreating.
☝️creating a distinctive culture by blending Persian traditions with Hellenistic (Greek) artistic influence, e.g. beautiful ivory drinking horns decorated with scenes from Greek mythology

Turkmenbashi, the first president of independent Turkmenistan, integrated Nisa into his state-sponsored nation- building ideology and personal cult by rewriting history in the Ruhnama - his 'Book of the Soul", a mandatory philosophical text to be studied by every citizen designed to forge a unified national identity.

In it, he claimed that the Turkmen people had a continuous 5,000-year civilizational history directly descending from ancient empires, most notably the Parthians.
In reality, the ancient Parthians were an East Iranian-speaking society, whereas modern Turkmens are of Turkic origin.
Turkmenbashi bridged this gap ideologically, framing Nisa not as an Iranian or Hellenistic relic, but as a monument of Turkmen ancestral genius.

Turkmenbashi was so engrossed in that ideology that he built the Ruhy mosque and his mausoleum in a spot that can be easily seen through the remnants of Nisa's fortress wall.Read more