Nisa, Nisa, Nasa or Nesa (Turkmen: Gadymy Nusaý, Persian: نسا, Ancient Greek: Νισαία, also Parthaunisa) is an ancient city, the ruins of which are located near the village of Bagir, 18 km west of Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. It consists of two settlements – New Nisa, a Parthian city in the valley, and Old Nisa – a royal fortress on a hill. Nisa is the oldest and richest city of the Parthian Empire – a state famous for its power for six centuries, from the middle of the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. Two hills of Old and New Nisa preserve traces of an ancient civilization that combined the sophistication of its traditional culture and elements of the culture of ancient Rome and Greece. Archaeological excavations carried out in two parts of the settlement revealed richly decorated architectural structures – residential buildings, official and religious buildings. The city was located at an important crossroads of trade routes and strategic interests. The Parthian state served as a kind of barrier that restrained the imperial aspirations of Rome, but at the same time remained an important connecting center between the east and the west, the south and the north.
The earliest traces of human activity on the site of Nisa date back to the 4th-2nd millennia BC. In the 1st millennium BC, there was already a fairly large sedentary settlement here.
According to legend, during the time of Darius Hystaspes (6th century BC), the settlement became a border fortress that blocked the path of warlike nomads invading from the north.
There are several versions of the etymology of the name “Nisa”, which appeared during the advance of the Aryans – “Nisaim”. The historian Abu Sad al-Samani (12th century) believed that it comes from the Arabic “nisa” (women), since it was women who allegedly repelled the Arab attack on this city. According to researchers, “nisa” means “a type of settled settlement” or “a place where people settled down to live.” In the 4th century BC, the region of Parthiene (the capital of which was Nisa) became part of the state of Alexander the Great, who founded the city of Alexandropol (now Old Nisa) near the fortress of Nisa (New Nisa). After Alexander’s death, the region of Parthiene briefly went to the Hellenistic state of the Seleucids. In 250 BC, the governor of Parthiene, Andragoras, renounced central power. In 245 BC, the local semi-nomadic Saka tribes of the Dahae-Parni, who lived in the Caspian steppes, rebelled under the leadership of two brothers, Arsaces and Tiridates. They seized power in Parthia, making Nisa (Alexandropol) their capital. Thus, the foundations of the great Parthian state were laid.
On the site of the settlement, the ancient city of New Nisa (with an area of about 18 hectares) grew up with the dwellings of the slave-owning nobility and a temple. Under Mithridates I (174-136 BC), the royal fortress of Mithridates (with an area of about 14 hectares) with 43 towers was erected on the site of Old Nisa. From the point of view of ancient technology, the fortress was an impregnable stronghold. In the 2nd-1st centuries BC, during the heyday of the Parthian Empire, the capital was moved to Asia Minor, but the rulers retained a special attitude towards Nisa. The graves of members of the Arsacid dynasty were located here. Old Nisa is an isolated royal fortress on a hill, named Mithridates (“fortress of Mithridates”), founded by Mithridates I or Mithridates II in the 2nd century BC. Until the 1st century AD. served as a burial place for the Parthian kings until the younger branch of the Arsacids ascended the throne and Arbela became the royal burial place. The area of the settlement is 17 hectares, it contains several buildings.
“Square House” – a building that served as a royal treasury, was built in the 2nd-1st centuries BC. It was a building 60 by 60 meters, without windows, with a central open courtyard, around which there were 12 rooms with a clay bench in each room. The walls of the house were made of raw brick, and the ceilings were wooden. The building was decorated with friezes with images of both Hellenistic origin – images of Hercules and lion faces, and local – a typical Arsacid image of a quiver with arrows. Almost everything that was kept in the “house” was stolen by robbers, and the items that remained were either damaged or of no value to them. The most famous of the finds in the “house” are the so-called “statue of Rodoguna”, the “statue of the eastern goddess” and numerous decorated rhytons, the finds are exhibited in the Main Museum of Turkmenistan.
In 2007, the ruins of the Parthian fortress were included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
