From Parthian to Islamic Nisa

Research carried out in the last centuries in the district of Nisa, the first Arsacid capital located in nowadays Turkmenistan, revealed traces of occupa- tion dated to the Islamic period that have been only previously published. These are particularly evident at New Nisa, the city settled up to the 17th century AD, but have been also recognized at Old Nisa, the Arsacid dynastic centre aban- doned during the 2nd century AD. This paper focuses on the findings dating back to the Islamic period made by the JuTAKE Expedition in the 1940s and by the Joint Turkmen-Italian Expedition in recent years, with the purpose of pointing out how some of the building solutions and planning displayed in Parthian Nisa might be considered as forerunners for the later Islamic architectural tradi- tion of Central Asia.