Transoxiana is the land between the Oxus and the Syr Darya. Both the Greek and the Arabic name say only that it lies across the river. Its cities are Samarkand, Bukhara and Paikent. Its people are the Sogdians, whose trade carried Chinese silk to Persia and Byzantium.[1]
For the Göktürks it was the prize of the Hephthalite war. The partition on the Oxus put it on the northern side. This made the khan of the west the overlord of the richest caravan country in Asia. It also gave him a reason to deal with Persia and Constantinople in his own name.[2]
References
Sources
Literature
- Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
- Étienne de la Vaissière, Sogdian Traders: A History (2005)
- Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
- Aydogdy Kurbanov, The Hephthalites: Archaeological and Historical Analysis (2010)
What links here19
- Persons
- Qutayba ibn Muslim · Sulu Khan
- Conflicts
- Göktürk–Persian war, 588–589
- Battles & Events
- Battle of Bukhara · The fall of Ordu-Balık, 840
- Sources
- Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk
Cite this article
Yavuz, Emre-E. “Transoxiana.” Turkic Atlas, revised 22 October 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/places/transoxiana/
Last revised: 22 October 2026
