Talk:Balkh

Archaeology

No professional archaeologist has ever been able to work at Balkh. - an IP-user in bg: (unknown to me) says that there was a French team in 1930s working in Balkh. May be we should reconsider this sentence. --Nk 16:26, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

My statement. Then this 1998 source is misinformed?: "The ruins of the walls of this city are a length of three and half km and width of almost three km. Pre-Islamic relics are abundant, but no work has been done on the archaeology of these treasures"[1].

Sir Aurel Stein might be the figure that's haunting the Bulgarian memory: "Stein's unending series of attempts, spread over forty-odd years of wanderings, to obtain permission to explore in Afghanistan, particularly at Balkh, the ancient Bactra, hoping to uncover the remains of the Greco-Buddhist civilization of Hellenistic Bactria. "My hope of reaching Bactria made me take to Oriental studies, brought me to England & India, gave me my dearest friends & chances of fruitful work, and for all this I must be deeply grateful to Fate" (letter of 1923, quoted by Walker, p. 248). I do not know what moral to draw from the fact that, in the last year of his life, he was finally invited by the government of Afghanistan, the "Promised Land" of his private letters, only to die a week after he arrived in Kabul, a month shy of his eighty-first birthday."Review of biographies of Stein

A single Googling "Archaeology Balkh" will turn up information without digging, like pottery shards at Balkh, apparently. --Wetman 17:55, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Frankly, I have no idea. I just wanted to know if I have to change it or not :). Thank you. --Nk 12:11, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The temple was Buddhist then Zoroastrian, not the other way around (... right?)

The article had:

For a long time the city and country was the central seat of the Zoroastrian religion, the founder of which, Zoroaster, died within the walls, according to the Persian poet Firdousi. In a fire-temple of Balkh, later converted to a Buddhist temple and given the name of Nava Vihara (Navbahar) in Persian chronicles, the Kashmiri Brahmins called Pramukh kept the lamps burning.

From the Memoirs of Xuanzang, we learn that, at the time of his visit in the 7th century, there were in the city, or its vicinity, about a hundred Buddhist convents, with 3,000 devotees, and that there was a large number of stupas, and other religious monuments. The most remarkable was the Nau Behar, (avci Bihara or New Convent), which possessed a very costly statue of Buddha. A curious notice of this building is found in the Arabian geographer Ibn Hawqal, an Arabian traveler of the 10th century, who describes Balkh as built of clay, with ramparts and six gates, and extending half a parasang. He also mentions a castle and a mosque.

However, the same temple is described twice here. I understand that it was in fact a Buddhist temple that was converted to Zoroasrianism, and not the other way around (unless it was converted twice?). So I merged the two descriptions, and added references to the most interesting Barmakids, guardians of that temple. Or Monastery, whatever :P I leave this notice here, 'cause I'm not exactly sure of the Buddhist -> Zoroastrian transformation, any sources for it being the other way around? flammifer^talk 21:32, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

History of the temple - interesting :) flammifer^talk 21:41, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Zoroastrianism

The lead section should talk about Zoroaster and Zoroastrianism. Balk is a very important spot for Zoroastrianism, yet Zoroastrianism is not even mentioned in the lead... Persian Warrior----Contact Me! 06:39, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Population

Those articles have failed to provide any statistics or census that Balkh district is indeed a Pashtun dominated district. according to the book Ancient Supremacy[2], only 5% of Balkh District were Pashtuns in the late 19th century. Balkh has always been a Tajik district throughout history and the Pashtuns migrated to Balkh in the last 150 years.--Inuit18 (talk) 03:12, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

This is amazing. You are giving me sources which clearly mentions that over 100 years ago those regions were dominated by non-Pashtuns and trying to prove that majority of the residents of Balkh district are non-Pashtuns. I have given you up-to date sources which clearly mentions that pashtuns make up majority of the district.

"Today, Balkh is a Pashtun stronghold, one of the few in northern Afghanistan. It's where the Taliban found refuge during the last days of its regime in late 2001." [3] (Ketabtoon (talk) 03:22, 27 October 2009 (UTC))

Pashtuns are living in Balkh district but it is irrational to think that the ethnography changed so greatly that 5% went up to 50% and up in 100 years. These are news articles not any academic sources.--Inuit18 (talk) 03:25, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

The city of Mazare Sharif was a stronghold of Dostum and Junbish but Uzbeks were a minority in the city.--Inuit18 (talk) 03:27, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Apparently it has increased that much that now they are in majority in Balkh district. It is not only that single news source, but other sources write the same thing. For example

"Atta had named three districts of Balkh Province -- Charbolak, Chamtal, and Balkh district, all dominated by Pashtuns, as the areas where Juma Khan was stirring things up." [4] (Ketabtoon (talk) 04:02, 27 October 2009 (UTC))

This is an academic encyclepedia therefore you need to provide academic sources. for the mean time I am taking the Persian speaking sentence also out.--Inuit18 (talk) 05:01, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Why is Balhae linked in See Also?

I can find no reason why the ancient Korean kingdom of Balhae should be linked from this page. Could someone enlighten me? Perhaps it is a misspelling? --Ben Applegate (talk) 05:12, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't see any reason either. Some times people add it by mistakes. (Ketabtoon (talk) 05:52, 1 December 2009 (UTC))

Sultan Mohammad Khan

I removed this passage from the section "Ancient Ruins of Balkh"

[A famous figure from the Balkh Province was Sultan Muhmmad Khan from the Mamozai tribe. Sultan Muhmmad Khan was the wealthiest person in Balkh at one time. He was believed to own Hundreds of thousands of acres of land. The people of Balkh considered him to be Khan of Balkh. In 1969 his son Shah Muhmmad Khan became a representative of the Balkh Province in The House of representatives so called The Woloesi Jirga.]

It has really no place in the section and has no link whatsoever to the passage. Furthermore, it has not citations.

98.207.182.78 (talk) 07:11, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Is this the town also called "Wazirabad"?

I'm pretty sure this is the town occasionally called "Wazirabad" (not to be confused with similarly named towns in Pakistan and India, and a neighborhood in Kabul). Any objections to my adding a mention of that alternate name, and liking to here from Wazirabad (disambiguation)? Here's are some gBooks hits: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=1&tbs=bks%3A1&q=wazirabad+balkh&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= . MatthewVanitas (talk) 22:02, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Etymology

What was the etymology of Balkh? Balkh or Bactra(city), which name is older? Böri (talk) 10:32, 9 October 2011 (UTC)