The history of statehood on the territory of Uzbekistan goes back more than 2,700 years. At the start of the 1st millennium BC the first state formations — Greater Khwarezm and Ancient Bactria — appeared here, cities were built and the great spiritual text, the Avesta, was composed. In the same era our ancestors’ struggle against foreign invaders — the courage of Tomyris and Shiraq — entered history. The topic is a foundation for every later period: how does a state arise, and why precisely in areas of irrigated farming? Exams often ask about the names and territories of the first states, the Avesta and Zoroastrianism, ancient cities and the heroes of the struggle for independence.
§1. Why the first states arose
A state does not appear overnight — it is the result of a long process of social development.
Irrigated farming: digging and cleaning large canals and sharing out water required many communities to work together under a single authority.
Crafts and trade: pottery, metalworking and weaving became separate occupations; exchange developed.
Inequality of wealth: once there was a surplus, elders, war leaders and priests grew rich.
A stronger tribal nobility began to pass power down by inheritance.
Defence against outside threats: nomad raids and wars with neighbours called for fortresses and a standing army.
Irrigation → surplus → inequality → nobility → state
§2. Greater Khwarezm and Ancient Bactria
Early 1st millennium BC — the kingdoms of Greater Khwarezm and Ancient Bactria
Bactria lay on the upper Amu Darya (today’s Surkhandarya, southern Tajikistan and northern Afghanistan); Greek writers called it “the land of a thousand cities”. Bactria may also have extended its influence to neighbouring Sogdiana and Margiana.
Greater Khwarezm lay on the lower Amu Darya and adjoining lands; some scholars think it also included Margiana, Parthia and part of Sogdiana.
Other historical regions: Sogdiana (the Zarafshan and Kashkadarya oases), Margiana (the Murghab oasis), Parthia (the Kopet Dag foothills), Fergana and Chach.
These states are described in the Avesta and later by Greek historians (Herodotus, Ctesias); excavations have uncovered their cities.
In the 6th century BC these lands were conquered by the Achaemenid Empire and turned into satrapies.
§3. People, economy and cities
Settled farmers — Bactrians, Sogdians, Khwarezmians and Ferganans — grew wheat, barley, millet and grapes, dug canals and planted orchards.
Nomadic and semi-nomadic herders: the Saka (the Syr Darya and the steppes) and the Massagetae (the lower Amu Darya and the Caspian region), famous as mounted warriors.
Settled and nomadic peoples traded constantly: farmers supplied grain and craft goods, herders supplied livestock, wool and hides.
Cities: Afrasiab (ancient Samarkand — Maracanda), Yerkurgan (Kashkadarya), Kyzyltepa (Surkhandarya) and Kuzeli-gyr (Khwarezm) — with defensive walls, citadels, palaces, temples and craft quarters.
Cities were walled and the ruler’s residence separately fortified — evidence of political power and social stratification.
§4. The Avesta and Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is the teaching of Zarathustra (Zoroaster), the ancient religion of the peoples of Central Asia and Iran.
The world is a battlefield between the god of good, Ahura Mazda, and the spirit of evil, Ahriman (Angra Mainyu).
People must side with good: “good thoughts, good words, good deeds”.
Fire, water and earth were sacred and polluting them was a sin. So the dead were not buried but exposed in dakhmas, and the cleaned bones were placed in clay chests — ossuaries.
A sacred fire burned constantly in fire temples.
The Avesta is the holy book of the Zoroastrians and one of the oldest written sources; long preserved orally, it was later written down and survives only in part.
The Avesta tells us about the structure of ancient society (family — clan — tribe — region), farming, herding, irrigation and customs; it praises farming and herding as righteous work.
The Avesta — the oldest written monument of the peoples of Central Asia and Iran; its central idea is the struggle of good and evil
§5. The struggle for independence
530 BC — Tomyris, queen of the Massagetae, destroyed the army of the Persian king Cyrus II; Cyrus was killed
Herodotus tells how Cyrus used a trick to get part of the Massagetae drunk and slaughter them, capturing Tomyris’s son Spargapises, who killed himself in captivity. In the decisive battle the Persian army was defeated and Cyrus killed.
Shiraq was a Saka shepherd. According to legend, he led the army of Darius I astray into the desert, where it perished of thirst, and he himself died a hero (source — the Greek writer Polyaenus).
These events are studied as the first examples of our ancestors’ fight for freedom; in popular memory they became symbols of patriotism.
Cause and effect: the Achaemenids sought to expand east → the peoples of Central Asia, especially the nomadic Saka and Massagetae, resisted fiercely → the invaders suffered heavy losses.
§6. The significance of ancient statehood
The earliest forms of statehood in Uzbekistan arose in oases of irrigated farming — which remained the economic foundation of later states too.
Urban culture, writing traditions (local scripts based on Aramaic would appear later) and a religious-philosophical system (Zoroastrianism) took shape.
The combination of settled and nomadic worlds became a lasting feature of Central Asian history.
The anniversaries celebrated by cities such as Khiva (2,500 years — 1997), Termez (2,500 years — 2002) and Samarkand (2,750 years — 2007) show the attention paid to this ancient past.
Worked example
“Match: 1) Tomyris; 2) Shiraq. a) Darius I; b) Cyrus II.”
Tomyris, queen of the Massagetae, fought Cyrus II in 530 BC: 1–b.
Shiraq, a Saka shepherd, destroyed Darius I’s army in the desert: 2–a.
Sources: Herodotus for Tomyris, Polyaenus for Shiraq.
Answer: 1–b, 2–a.
Worked example
Source analysis: “With good thoughts, good words and good deeds I serve Ahura Mazda; I till the earth, I do not pollute the water, I hold fire sacred” (paraphrasing an ancient religious text). What is the source, and which religion does it belong to?
“Good thoughts, good words, good deeds” is the core moral principle of Zoroastrianism.
Ahura Mazda is the god of good in Zoroastrianism.
Holding earth, water and fire sacred is also characteristic of Zoroastrianism.
Answer: the Avesta; Zoroastrianism.
Worked example
Cause and effect: “Why did the first states arise precisely in the Amu Darya oases — Bactria and Khwarezm?”
River water made irrigated farming possible.
Digging large canals and sharing water required an authority uniting the communities.
The surplus fed the nobility, craftsmen and an army.
Answer: irrigated farming → the need for management and a surplus → the state.
Check yourself
Name the first states on the territory of Uzbekistan.
Who is the god of good in Zoroastrianism?
Of which tribes was Tomyris queen?
In what year did Tomyris defeat Cyrus II’s army?
Afrasiab is the ancient site of which city?
What is the clay chest in which Zoroastrians placed the bones of the dead called?
Which region was called “the land of a thousand cities”?
Which Greek writer recorded the legend of Shiraq?
Common mistakes
Pairing Tomyris with Darius I and Shiraq with Cyrus II.
Thinking Zoroastrianism arose in the Kushan era (it is far older).
Placing Sogdiana on the lower Amu Darya (that is Khwarezm; Sogdiana is the Zarafshan and Kashkadarya oases).
Taking the Saka and Massagetae for settled farmers (they were mainly nomadic herders).
Dating the first states to the 6th century BC under the Achaemenids (they arose at the start of the 1st millennium BC).