حسن شجاعی مهر

There is a remarkable difference between the remained monuments in Transoxiana in northeast of Great Iran in the third to seventh century with the remained historical monuments in the central Iran in Sassanid era both in art themes & subjects matter and elements & bases. By comparison of elements and historical themes in these two parts of great Iran, some unwritten historical data can be obtained that can be used in historical analyzing of Iran before Islam. I this survey of comparative method, some outstanding and remarkable selective indexes of Transoxiana historical works have been evaluated with the Iranian Sassanid ones from artistic themes and elements. The findings of this survey shows that Transoxiana art coincided with the Sassanid era contained themes and Iranian popular culture and symbols and its elements and themes , has wide visual culture representation of local culture of peasants and merchants. Sassanid art does not have the concepts and cultural symbols and themes in its foundations focus on the visual representation of the Sassanid Empire. Art of Transoxiana has a balance and proportionality in representation of historical facts of Transoxiana society and the simplicity and non luxury, yet a pleasant fluency in artistic expression while Sassanid art is an imbalance in representation and appropriateness of historical facts of Sassanid society full of pomp and show and has a surprising exaggerating artistic expression.

Transoxiana had been a fertile ground for growth of a variety of religious cultures such as Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Christianity (Nestorian), Jewish and even some pagan tendencies like Shamanism. Such an exceptional multi-cultural environment calls for a special consideration. The main focus of this brief survey is on the situation of this multi-cultural region during pre-Islamic periods. Its basic question is that what made it possible for this mosaic environment to tolerate such a colorful culture? From a post-Islamic point of view, it asks that what characteristics have been resulted by this coexistence of various religions and dissents in a situation of toleration and indulgence. This survey is based on an analytical research of a volume of textual data which is gleaned from different library sources and archeological findings. The results of this research show that the pre-Islamic Transoxiana has given birth to an interesting composition of religions and cultures. Due to this dynamic situation, pre-Islamic Tranxoianian civilization has been witnessed to a spectacular cultural efflorescence. These various cultural elements were mixed into a composition so integrated that distinguishing them is something impossible.

Since 31 (A.H) that the first Arab conquerors entered Khorasan state until the year 86 (A.H) that Ghotaybah Ibn Muslem Baheli was appointed as the governor on behalf of Hajaj Ibn Yoosef Thaghafi in Khorasan, the Arabs had ruled over the Khorasan, but they did not succeed in ruling over the Oxus. All of the endeavors that have been made up to this period were nothing except one or two short-time attacks by Obaydollah Ibn Ziyad and Saeed Ibn Othman, that even some researchers have some serious doubt about it. Local governments have encompassed (city states) of Takharestan, Choghanian, Bokhara, Samarghand, Kharazm, Chach and Farghaneh with different multi-cultural situations, and religions such as Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Manichean, Nastoari, and Jewish. Head farmers and merchants were the most powerful strata in this society. The main focus of this article—considering the geographic, cultural and social characteristic of Transoxiana—is to determine which military strategy has been applied by the Arabs in the conquest of this area. This research applies the method of historical analysis and is based upon the original and first-hand scripts and documents. The findings of this research prove this important point that Hajaj and Ghotaybeh had different multi-lateral military strategy accompanied by political, social, cultural and economical dimensions; and during one decade of thoughtful politics of Hajaj and also the military power of Ghotaybah they could provide the necessary conditions to stabilize the Islamic sovereignty and the dominance of Muslim Arabs over Transoxiana.