Torbulok - a sanctuary in the Hellenistic Far East

Summary

A sanctuary of the Hellenistic period was recently discovered at the village of Torbulok in southwest Tajikistan. Its discovery was based on a random find of a large limestone vessel, identified as a perirrhanterion – a vessel for Greek purification rituals. The excavations, started in 2013 by a German-Tajik team, gave insights into the structure of the sanctuary and confirmed the dating to the 3rd and 2nd century BC, as Bactria was part of the Hellenistic world. The unearthed installations and objects show the performed rituals were inspired not only by Greek customs – as the purification ritual – but also by local traditions, with a high importance of water and ashes. The site seems to have functioned as a pilgrim sanctuary, associated to an ancient settlement at distance of ca. 30 kilometers.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Ongoing Research in Eurasian Archaeology: Assessing the Implications of New Evidence

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 13254