The localization of battle of qatwan

Abstract

The site of the battle of Qatwan, which took place on September 9 (15), 1141, between the Seljuk Turks led by Sultan Sanjar and the Karluks under the command of the Kara-Khitans gurkhan Yelu Dashi, has been established. It is located 11 km south of Samarkand on the bypass road and at the intersection of the Termez highway with the Dargom canal. The canal was known in ancient sources of the 5th-4th centuries BC as the Dargomania canal. It was also on the Ptolemy map. The grandiose defeat of Sultan Sanjar in the Battle of Qatwan led to the liberation of Khwarazm and Transoxiana from the yoke of the Seljuks. According to Ibn al-Athir, "there was no battle in Islam greater than this, and there were no more killed in Khorasan than in it". Usrushana-Surushana played an important role in the victory of the Karluks, as it opened a corridor across the Shahristan pass to the valley of the Zeravshan River. The army of Karluks left Penjikent along that corridor to the west and struck the rear of Sanjar"s army on the crossing through the Dargom Canal. That determined the outcome of the battle. A raid of the Karluks along the circular route of Samarkand — Jizzakh — Zamin — Shakhristan — Penjikent — Samarkand has been described. The works of Khordadbeh, Haukal and Khudud al-Alam have been studied for the research. As a result, a number of early medieval cities of Transoxiana have been localized. In connection with the localization of the battle of Qatwan on the Dargom canal, the battle under discussion should be considered the battle of Dargom, since the canal has been known under this name in early antiquity and at the present time.