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Margiana

Oasis land of the Murghab in Central Asia, which rose under Frada in 521 BCE

In the game: Level 3: The Lie

Margiana, Old Persian Margush, was the oasis of the Murghab river in what is now Turkmenistan, around the later city of Merv. In 521 it rose against Darius under a man named Frada, and the satrap of Bactria, Dadarshi, put it down.

In the game: Margiana is named in the Bagastana and Parsa levels' Chronicle and the King's generals' campaigns, among the lands that rose in 522-521.

Frada's revolt

In the record

Darius says the land called Margush rebelled and made a Margian named Frada its chief. He sent word to Dadarshi, a Persian, his satrap in Bactria, who marched against the Margians and beat them on 23 Atriyadiya, about December 521.

Behistun inscription §38

The count of the dead

In the record

The Old Persian text gives no numbers, but the Babylonian version of the Behistun inscription says 55,243 Margians were killed and 6,972 taken. Historians treat such counts with care, but the size suggests a hard war in the oasis.

Behistun inscription, Babylonian version §38

Among the rebel lands

In the record

Darius lists Margiana among the lands that rebelled while he was in Babylon, with Persia, Elam, Media, Assyria, Egypt, Parthia, Sattagydia and the Saka. In the relief Frada stands among the bound kings.

Behistun inscription §21, §52

An ancient oasis

In the record

Excavations at Gonur Tepe and other sites show that the Murghab delta had walled towns and irrigated fields from the Bronze Age. In the Achaemenid period the walled town of Erk Kala at Merv was its centre.

V. Sarianidi, excavations at Gonur Tepe; the Merv excavations