Understand
The name Panjakent is derived from "panj" five and "kant" settlements, meaning "five settlements". Rudaki, the founder of Persian-Tajik literature called "Adam of poets", was born in Panjakent.
The ruins of ancient Panjakent are situated in the Zarafshan Valley about 60 km east of Samarkand. Panjakant was the easternmost city of Sogdia. The site is being excavated from 1947 onwards. Excavations were led by Y.Yakubovsky, A.Belenitsky and B.Marshak of the Ermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Due to the long period of excavations, Panjakant has become one of the most thoroughly studied early medieval cities in all Asia. Excavations show that Panjakant was founded in the 5th cent and was inhabited until the 770s.
Panjakent is famous for the outstanding frescoes. Today, a few of them are exhibited in the small Rudaki Museum at Panjakent, but most of them are exhibited in Dushanbe and the Ermitage in St. Petersburg.
History
Ancient Panjakent was a town of the Soghdians. The Soghdians were a people of an Iranian language. They belonged to the most important peoples in Central Asia before arrival of the Islam. The name Soghd or Soghdian is mentionned in historical sources of the Achaemenid Empire 6th cent BC. The Soghdians founded several city-states in the Zarafshan Valley and colonies along the Silk Road from the Crimea to China and Mongolia. Ancient Panjakent was the capital of the state of Panch. The town dates to the 5th cent. AD. It was inhabited by rich merchants and land-owners. The Arabs conquered Panjakent in 722. The last ruler, named Devashtich, fled into the mountains, but he was captured and sentenced to death. People stayed in Panjakent under the rule of the caliphate, but towards the end of the 8th century, the city was abandoned.