Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

4 .6
the Great’s army, ‘crossed the river Oxus, and having burnt the boats upon which he
had crossed, he withdrew to Nautaca in the land of Sogdiana’. (Arrian III, 28). Strabo
(1st century AD) maintained that the river Oxus was navigable and was the largest
river, except those in India, which he had seen in Asia (he borrowed his information
from Patrocles (3rd century BC)).
The same is stated in the Chinese chronicle the Shiji (1st century AD) according
to which, ‘along the river Gui (Amu Darya) live merchants who carry their goods by
river and overland for many thousands of li’. All these sources suggest the extensive
exploration of river navigation on the Amu Darya in ancient times. Unfortunately,
little is known about the types of vessels used to navigate the river. Most likely, they
included both rowing and sailing vessels. However, thanks to the discovery of a unique
bulla with an imprint of a gemstone in habitation layers dating from the late 4th or
early 5th century AD at Karatepa (Old Termez), we do have reliable information
about one of the vessels.
According to B.G. Peters, who published a description of the bulla, it shows a
rowing warship and a pilot boat with two sailors sailing in front of the warship
under the stem. The warship has a rounded bottom, the sides are made of wicker
and covered in skins, and it has a high bow reminiscent of a dragon’s head with rams
facing forward. Five horizontal lines running from stern to bow, intersected in turn
by ten vertical lines are inscribed on the side of the vessel. A large steering oar can
be seen on the stern, and below it are 18 rowing oars, indicating that the boat had
36 rowers and a helmsman. In addition, there are images of five warriors with spears
standing at the side of the boat. According to Peters, the construction of the ship
depicted on the bulla has many similarities to surviving images of a kuphar, a type of
round boat (from the Arabic quffa meaning a basket woven from reeds and leaves)
used for transport in Babylon (beginning of the 1st millennium BC). The design of
the vessel depicted on the bulla from Karatepa also bears significant resemblance to
an Assyrian round vessel from the 8th century BC, depicted on a relief from Nimrud.
The rounded outlines of both vessels and the division of their sides into rectangular
compartments are entirely similar. However, the Assyrian vessel does not have a high
stem finished with a ram, which suggests the vessels had different purposes – the
vessel on the bulla from Karatepa, as correctly noted by B.G. Peters, looks like it was
used for military transport.
From the available data, it is evident that two types of ships were used in ancient
times for navigating the Amu Darya: single-masted, keeled, sailing ships and ‘round’
(wicker) rowing boats. The origins of both are probably linked to the countries of the
Eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia, from where their designs were borrowed,
although it remains unclear when this borrowing took place. It is possible that this
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