Balkh stands where the mountains of central Afghanistan give out onto the plain. It is the chief city of eastern Khurasan and the old Greek Bactra. It was a centre of Buddhism before the Arab conquest, and the road from Transoxiana to India ran through it.[1]
Together with Talakan and Badhghis, it is one of the cities of Bactria that the Göktürks took in 588, in the war against Persia. Bahram Chobin retook them the year after.[2]
References
Sources
Literature
- Aydogdy Kurbanov, The Hephthalites: Archaeological and Historical Analysis (2010)
- Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
- Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
- Stanislas Julien, Mémoires sur les contrées occidentales (1857–1858)
What links here26
- Persons
- Bagha Khan · Bahram Chobin · Istemi · Khosrow I · Shegui Khan · Si Yabgu Khan · Tardu Shad · Tardush · Tong Yabgu
- Conflicts
- Göktürk Expansion along the Silk Road · Göktürk–Persian war, 588–589 · Kapgan's western war, 709–713 · The Göktürk Civil War · The Göktürk–Hephthalite war, 555–563 · The Göktürk–Sasanian Trade Conflict
- Battles & Events
- Battle of Bukhara · Smbat Bagratuni's war with the khan
- Peoples
- Hephthalites · Khalaj
Cite this article
Yavuz, Emre-E. “Balkh.” Turkic Atlas, revised 22 October 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/places/balkh/
Last revised: 22 October 2026
