,Urban Defense Structure of Transoxiana in the Early Islamic Centuries: With an Emphasis on Bokhara and Samarkand

Attempts to gain security, as an important need of man throughout history, have always dealt with different types of defense equipment. The defensive measures taken with the aim of guaranteeing independence, maintaining territorial integrity, and protecting people against any invasion of the enemy, are whether military or civilian, respectively known as active and passive defense today. The passive defense measures, which are considered as important elements in providing security of cities, do not deal with direct use of weapons; but they include predicted and preventing measures in order to stand against the enemy without any fight or military involvement. On one hand, it imposes high costs on the enemy, and on the other hand, it improves the defensive power of domestic forces. Given the strategic position of Transoxiana and the fact that for centuries, this area was faced with numerous attacks—especially from Turks— it was essential to observe the principles of passive defense in its urban structure through development of municipal border fortifications. Bokhara and Samarkand, as the most important cities in the area, had passive defense elements such as the arks, city walls, ramparts, battlements, gates, etc. The present paper aims to study the passive defense structure during the early Islamic period.