The Principality of Farghana was a local Iranian dynasty of Sogdian origin, which ruled the Farghana region from an unknown date to 819. The rulers of the region were known by their titles of "ikhshid" and "dehqan". The capital of the principality was Akhsikath.
Pre-Islamic coinage of Ferghana.
Divinity Weshparkar, 7th century, Quva (Ferghana), Uzbekistan.
Head of a demon, 7th century, Buddhist temple of Quva (Ferghana), Uzbekistan.
Coinage of Malik ibn Shakartegin (Circa AH 312-344/ 924-955 CE), a Samanid ruler of Akhsikath. Ferghana mint, dated AH 382 (AD 992-3).
Sogdia or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid Empire, and listed on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great. Sogdiana was first conquered by Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, and then was annexed by the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great in 328 BC. It would continue to change hands under the Seleucid Empire, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, the Kushan Empire, the Sasanian Empire, the Hephthalite Empire, the Western Turkic Khaganate and the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana.
Sogdian soldier circa 338 BCE, tomb of Artaxerxes III.
Sogdians on an Achaemenid Persian relief from the Apadana of Persepolis, offering tributary gifts to the Persian king Darius I, 5th century BC
Head of a Saka warrior, as a defeated enemy of the Yuezhi, from Khalchayan, northern Bactria, 1st century BCE.
A Yuezhi (left) fighting a Sogdian behind a shield (right), Noin-Ula carpet, 1st century BC/AD.
