Takhti Sangin

Takhti Sangin

That stone settlement which the archaeologists named Tahti Sangin turned out to be really unique. In the very center, they found an ancient temple which got a name “the Temple of Oks”. It used to be devoted to the Divinity of the river whose cult had existed there since the old days.

If you had a chance to visit the British Museum you might see the unique collection named Amu Darya Treasure (or “the Treasures of Oks”). His treasure was funded in 1877 on the right bank of the Amu Darya River (it used to be called Oks during Greek period). The find consisted of more than 2,000 gold and silver coins, gold objects dated 4th – 3rd centuries B.C. The local residents who had found the treasure sold it to the merchants traveling with a caravan to India from where the treasure got to England.

Now let’s go back to the present time, thirty years ago. It was in 1976 bats archeologists began excavation on the site of ancient settlement Takhti Kubad (34 km from Kabodian settlement at the confluence of the rivers Vakhsh and Panj). That stone settlement which the archaeologists named Tahti Sangin turned out to be really unique. In the very center, they found an ancient temple which got a name “the Temple of Oks”. It used to be devoted to the Divinity of the river whose cult had existed there since the old days.

The amazing findings were discovered in the huge temple constructed in the 4th – 3rd centuries B.C. which continued to exist in the first centuries of our era. Most likely those were the gifts of church-goers to the temple: the image of Alexander the Great as Hercules, the sheath with the image of a lion holding a fallow deer, chests facings made of ivory and decorated with carved drawings, the biggest collection of arrow tips in the Central Asia (more than 5 thousand), arms of Greek-Macedonian warriors. The fragments of gilt bronze helmets which looked like if made of pure gold were also found there.

By the way, “the Temple of Oks” has survived in a very good condition. During the15 years of excavation in Takhti Sangin the archaeologists extracted more than 5 thousand objects of Greek-Batrian time. After all this time the archeologists and the scientists finally came to the opinion that there is a direct connection between Amu Darya Treasure (“the Treasure of Oks”) in the British Museum and “the Temple of Oks” in Takhti Sangin since the place of treasures discovery and the location of the temple are the same, and all treasure items are of ceremonial value. It might have happened that the treasures were moved from the temple in troubled times and hidden nearby in the riverbank. The ruins of Takhti Sangin today can be seen in the picturesque valley of the rivers Panj and Vakhsh, and “the Temple of Oks” treasures – in metropolitan museums.