Nisa
Old Nisa (Mithradatkert)
The Parthians (or Arsacids) belonged to the wide confederation of Scythian nomads of the central Asian steppes. According to classical sources, their group (Parns, Aparns) originated from the regions south of the Aral Sea. Towards the middle of the 3rd century B.C., Arsaces I took over Parthia, freeing it from Seleucid rule. This foreshadowed a glorious and centuries-long epic that saw the Parthians dominate the eastern regions, then compete with Rome and finally succumb to the Sasanids in the first decades of the 3rd century A.D. One of the first major cities founded by the Arsacids was Old Nisa, the ancient Mithradatkert. Its importance lies in the fact that it is one of the most ancient exaples of an official and monumental centre of the early Arsacid period: a crucial time in which the social, political and cultural trends that converged into the Parthians’ various arts were being developed, defined and consolidated.
The archaeological area of Nisa extends at the feet of the Kopet Dagh mountain range, in southern Turkmenistan. Two nearby sites, New Nisa e Old Nisa, emerge today from the plains at the foot of the mountains near the modern village of Baghir, 18 km west of the capital Ashgabat. The two centres, atop natural elevations, as known taday, were founded in Parthian times. New Nisa was probably the city, surrounded by towered walls and with an inner citadel. Old Nisa (the fortress of Mithridates), on the other hand, was the ceremonial centre and royal citadel. The latter is much better-known, as it has seen a succession of Soviet, Turkmen and Italian excavations (the last of which are still underway) take place since the 1930s. Today, our knowledge of the inner layout and of the main features of the citadel of Old Nisa, although still incomplete, is satisfactory.
The favourable topographical position of the citadel of Mithridates and the imposing curtain of turreted walls made of unbaked bricks probably gave visitors the impression of being a fortified stronghold; today, although the walls of Old Nisa now appear as gently undulated structures at the edge of the plateau, they have maintained their majestic appearance. However, the research that has been conducted there for more than 70 years has increasingly highlighted the fact that this complex possessed neither military nor strategic functions: in short, it was neither a stronghold nor a fortified royal residence, but a centre that was actually used to hold ceremonies celebrating the Arsacid dynasty, that simultaneously exalted Parthian royalty and the power of a new ethnic group that imposed itself on the international scene. In this celebrative dimension – and it is here that Nisa’s art illustrated its wealth and mystique – art and architecture borrowed from various cultural traditions: some were ascribable to the dynasty’s origins (the world of the steppes), others displayed Iranian (Achemenid) influences, while others were influenced by the spread of Hellenism in Asia with and after Alexander the Great.