"While the Romans were in consternation at this din, suddenly their enemies...were seen in helmets and breastplate, their Margianian steel glittering keen and bright". Plutarch 46?-120? AD

At the southern edge of the Kara Kum desert in the Merv oasis, numerous small towns and cities formed. Classical writers called the region Margiana. The cities were irrigated by the Murghab River, which flows northward from the mountains in Afghanistan.

The successive cities of the Merv oasis have a long history of metallurgy although there are no local sources for ores or refractory clay known to be present in the oasis. Plutarch mentions the use of Margiana’s (Parthian Merv) steel to make armour for soldiers (Plutarch, 1915, 387.) Also under the Parthians, during the first century AD the city minted coins (Litvinsky et al., 1994, 481; Koshelenko and Pilipko, 1994, 140).  During the Sasanian period  “between 240 - 260 (AD), the Merv ruler minted in his own name a bronze coin with the figure of a horseman...” (Litvinsky et al., 1994, 481). There was a mint at Merv during the post-Sasanian period and during the Islamic period (Herrmann et al., 1994, 63-65). 

The region of Khurasan is mentioned specifically as a steel-manufacturing centre by the Islamic scholar al-Kindi (c. 801-866 AD) (Bronson, 1986, 19).  During the 9th century the Khurasan was known for manufacturing swords made of local iron and iron from Sarandib, modern Sri Lanka (Al-Hassan, 1978, 34).  During the 10th century the region produced weapons and breastplates (Allan, 1979, 69). Marv [sic] is mentioned by al-Muqaddasi (late 10th century) as producing “nahas” (Allan, 1979, 128) which is translated as either copper or a low tin bronze (Allan, 1979, 126).  Textual and archaeological evidence clearly show that for centuries Merv was an important metalworking centre, despite the fact that all metals and associated raw materials needed to be imported into the city.

       Camels with the tomb of Sultan Sanjar on the horizon