Transoxiana

It was defined within the classical world of Persia to distinguish it from Iran proper, especially its northeastern province of Khorasan,[3] a term originating with the Sasanians,[4] although early Arab historians and geographers tended to subsume the region within the loosely defined term "Khorasan" designating a much larger territory.

[9] The name Transoxiana stuck in Western consciousness because of the exploits of Alexander the Great, who extended Greek culture into the region with his invasion in the 4th century BCE.

Alexander's successors would go on to found the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, ushering in a distinct Greek cultural presence within Transoxiana that existed for over two hundred years.

Zhang Qian identifies Parthia as an advanced urban civilisation that farmed grain and grapes and made silver coins and leather goods.

In Sasanian times, the region became a major cultural center due to the wealth of the Northern Silk Road.

Part of this region was conquered by Qutayba ibn Muslim between 706 and 715 and loosely held by the Umayyad Caliphate from 715 to 738.

The conquest was consolidated by Nasr ibn Sayyar between 738 and 740 and continued under the control of the Umayyads until 750, when it was replaced by the Abbasid Caliphate.

In the early Islamic period, the people of Transoxania spoke Sogdian (an Iranian language) and were divided among several principalities.

[13] The historian Mark Dickens notes:[7] Transoxiana's principal pre-Islamic religion was Zoroastrianism, albeit in local manifestations.

He rebelled against his father, eventually slaying him, before embarking on a series of conquests that brought Islam to all of "Transoxiana and Turkestan.