Après des années de fouilles, l'auteur livre le résultat de ses recherches sur les fortifications de l'ancienne Chorasmia (Khwarazm), ancienne cité de l'Empire achéménide qui devint indépendante au IVe siècle av. J.-C. Il avance l'hypothèse de l'existence d'une école d'architecture militaire et étudie les relations entre ces fortifications et celles d'Asie centrale. ©Electre 2024

Chorasmia was the northernmest of the oasis lauds of ancient Central Asia. It lay about the delta of the Amu-dar'ya River, the classical Oxus, from which it derived its livelihood. Its isolation among the lands of the Eurasian nomads, together with the depredations of the Mongols, and after them the Timurid armies, has preserved a unique legacy of standing remains without parallel elsewhere in Central Asia. In no other place is the pre-Islamic military architecture of an entire land still visible above the ground. The Military Architecture of Ancient Chorasmia is the outcome of many years of fieldwork by Gairatdin Khozhaniyazov. This is the first time since S.P. Tolstov's 1953 publication in translation of Po sledam drevne-khorezmiiskoi tsivilizatsii, and Frumkin's 1970 Archaeology in Soviet Central Asia that a comprehensive study of Chorasmian fortifications has been made available to the English-speaking world. Based on his study of the abundant and remarkably preserved examples to be found across Karakalpakstan and Khorezm, Khozhaniyazov proposes the existence of a Chorasmian school of military architecture that developed between about the 6th century B.C. and the 4th century A.D. Originally written in Russian, the work has been translated, edited and emended by Svend Helms.

Chorasmian fortifications are remarkably elaborate and questions arise as to why they were built, where the design ideas came from, and against whom were they meant to defend. Ancient Chorasmia remained generally isolated from political and military events to the south from the 5th century B.C. up to the 1st century A.D. and the rise of the Kushan empire. Thus, the chief threat to Chorasmia must have been the nomadic tribes such as the Massagetae and elements of the Saca, among others. Many of the fortifications were built to defend the desert frontiers of the irrigated lands. These issues are discussed in an appendix by Alison Betts.