MERV, MERU or MAUR, an ancient and once famous oasis and town of Asiatic Russia in the Turkmen S.S.R. The oasis has an area of 134,40o sq.km., and a population (1926) of mainly Turkmens of the Tekke tribe. The great chain of moun tains which, under the names of Paropamisus and Hindu-Kush, extends from the Caspian to the Pamirs, is interrupted some 18o m. S. of Merv. Through or near this gap flow northwards in parallel courses the rivers Heri-rud (Tejend) and Murghab, until they lose themselves in the desert of Kara-kum, and the loess oasis of Mery depends on irrigation from the Murghab for its life. In 1895 the Russians completed further irrigation works bringing 436 sq.m. under cultivation, and in 1927 the Soviet Government began the construction of an electric power station. Cereals, cotton, fruits and vine are cultivated ; cotton production is markedly increasing to supply the textile industry of European Russia. The railway from Krasnovodsk on the Caspian, linking with the Orenburg-Tashkent lines, passes through the town of Merv, from which there is a branch line southwards to Russia. The town of Merv, population (1926) 19,o99, has cotton and wool cleaning factories, a flour-milling and brewing industry. The horses are famous throughout central Asia.
After the 1917 revolution, a period of disorder set in which markedly diminished cultivation and stock-raising, and resulted in the disorganization of the irrigation system. In 1926 new laws regulating the distribution of water were enforced, extensive repairs were carried out, and production has now almost reached the 1913 level, while as regards cotton production, it has markedly surpassed it. Native crafts include silver work, the making of ar mour, carpet weaving and the making of felt and woollen goods. Summer heat is oppressive, 97° F, and the least wind raises clouds of dust which darken the air and make respiration difficult. In winter the temperature is 19° F, but snow rarely falls and never lies ; the rainfall is about 5 in. per annum, June to October being usually rainless months.
Spiegel, 1852-63), which dates probably from at least 1200 B.C. Under the name of Margu it occurs in the cuneiform (Behistun) inscriptions of the Persian monarch Darius Hystaspis, where it is referred to as forming part of one of the satrapies of the ancient Persian empire. It afterwards became a province (Margiana) of the Graeco-Syrian, Parthian, and Persian kingdoms. On the Mar
gus—the Epardus of Arrian and now the Murghab—stood the capital of the district, Antiochia Margiana, so called after Anti ochus Soter, who rebuilt the city founded by Alexander the Great.
About the 5th century, during the rule of the Persian Sassanian dynasty, Mery was the seat of a Christian archbishopric of the Nestorian Church. The town was occupied (A.D. 646) by the lieutenants of the caliph Othman, and was constituted the capital of Khorasan. From this city as their base the Arabs, under Ko taiba (Qotaiba) ibn Moslim, early in the 8th century brought under subjection Balkh, Bokhara, Ferghana, and Kashgaria, and penetrated into China as far as the province of Kan-suh. In the latter part of the 8th century Mery became obnoxious to Islam as the centre of heretical propaganda preached by Mokanna (q.v.). In 874 Arab rule in Central Asia came to an end. During their dominion Merv, like Samarkand and Bokhara, was one of the great schools of learning, and the celebrated historian Yaqut studied in its libraries. In 1040 the Seljuk Turks crossed the Oxus from the north, and having defeated Masud, sultan of Ghazni, raised Toghrul Beg, grandson of Seljuk, to the throne of Persia, founding the Seljukian dynasty, with its capital at Nisha pur. A younger brother of Toghrul, Daud, took possession of Mery and Herat (q.v.). Toghrul was succeeded by his nephew Alp Arslan (the Great Lion), who was buried at Merv. It was about that time that Mery reached the zenith of her glory. During the reign of Sultan Sanjar or Sinjar of the same house, in the middle of the I 1 th century, Mery was overrun by the Turk ish tribes of the Ghuzz from beyond the Oxus. It eventually passed under the sway of the rulers of Khwarizm (Khiva).
Mery was conquered in 1221 by Tule (see MONGOLS), most of the inhabitants were massacred, and from that time the city began to decay. It was the seat of a Christian Archbishopric in the early 14th century and in 1380 was included in the possessions of Timur (q.v.). In 1505 the city was invested by the Usbegs, who were expelled (1510) by Ismail Khan of Persia. It remained in Persian hands until 1787 when the Emir of Bokhara captured it. In 1794 the Bokharians burned it to the ground and made the whole district a waste. When Sir Alexander Burnes traversed the country in 1832, the Khivans were the rulers of Merv. About this time the Tekke Turkomans, then living on the Heri-rud, were forced by the Persians to migrate northward. The Khivans contested the advance of the Tekkes, but ultimately, about 1856, the latter became the sovereign power in the country, and re mained so until the Russians occupied the oasis in 1883.