Once again on Old Nisa

Purpose. The article discusses chronology and the original functions of the Old Nisa complex located in the vicinity of village Bagir, about 10 km north-west of modern Ashkhabad. Most researchers regard Old Nisa as a dynastic cult center of the Arsacids created during the reign of Arsaces I or Mithridates I, although the arguments supporting these interpretations are very weak with some researchers providing no arguments at all. In the absence of the sound dating for the construction of the Old Nisa complex, it is nearly impossible to make good use of the evidences which could cast light upon the many important issues of the early Parthian history and culture. Results. Our analysis of fortification, i.e. the height of the intramural passage with gun slots and column bases consisting of a flat circular torus combined with two- or three-step square plinth, as well as the architectural and sculptural features - slabs of the long socle decorating the northern facade of the Red Building and a clay head of a bearded man in a pseudo-attic helmet - allow us to come to the conclusion that the earliest buildings appeared in Old Nisa in the late 4 th - early 3 rd centuries B.C., probably during the joint reign of Seleucus I Nicator and his son Antiochus I (294-281 B.C.). Several decades later (but earlier than 250 B.C.) there appeared walls on the hill of Old Nisa, while in the place of the demolished original buildings there appeared the Central Complex including the North-Eastern Building, the Square Hall, the Tower Building, the Round Hall and the Red Building. According to written and numismatic sources, the 3 rd - early 2 nd centuries B.C. witnessed Old and New Nisa as parts of the Nesaia region, which was not included into the Parthyene but was a separate region. That is why the 14-year occupation of Parthyene by Arsaces I (in 238-231 and 217-210 B.C.) did not imply occupation of Old Nisa, which remained under control of the Seleucids during these and following years. It is only in the late 60s of the 2 nd century B.C. that all Nesaia and Old Nisa fell into the hands of the Arsacids. Conclusion. The architectural and sculptural decoration of the Central Complex helps us to understand the purpose of this building. A whole range of evidences such as the time of the Complex construction, metopes with the Seleucid anchor and monumental unbaked clay statues of men and women wearing Greek garments, apparently representing the gods and goddesses of the Olympic pantheon as well as the members of the ruling dynasty, proves that the Old Nisa was originally a dynastic cult center of the Seleucids. After Mithridates I captured Old Nisa, he followed his Seleucids predecessors by adopting not only the idea and the form of the dynastic cult, but also the architectural complex designed with this aim in mind. Thus, it is not surprising that the renewed Old Nisa, which was renamed Mihrdatkirt after its conquerer, started to be used as a dynastic cult center of the Arsacids.