City of Balkh

In the early Islamic age, the city of Balkh was one of the largest and most influential cities in the world. Situated on the northern plains of modern Afghanistan, Balkh flourished from the 7th to the 13th centuries, home to a wide variety of scholars, artists and religious leaders.

This book presents the first comprehensive analysis of the history and archaeology of early Islamic Balkh. Archaeological research undertaken throughout the twentieth century has investigated the evolution of the city, but only more recently has the evidence for its medieval development been pieced together. The authors collate and examine the available textual and artefactual material in order to recreate the history of this unique city and assess its critical role in early medieval Eurasia.

Arezou Azad holds the Chair in the Art and Heritage of Afghanistan at the Institut national des
langues et civilisations orientale in Paris and is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford
and Director of the Invisible East programme.

Edmund Herzig is Masoumeh and Fereydoon Soudavar Professor of Persian Studies at the
University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow in Iranian Studies at Wadham College, Oxford.

Robert G. Hoyland is Professor of the Late Antique and Early Islamic History of the Middle East at
New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, having formerly taught at the
universities of Oxford and St Andrews.

Philippe Marquis was the Director of Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan (DAFA).

Paul Wordsworth is a Lecturer in Silk Roads Archaeology and Heritage at University College
London, UK.