MERV is situated in an oasis of the same name. It was the capital of the ancient Mar giana, is said to have been founded by Alexander the Great, and became the residence of one of his successors, Antioehus Nicator, who called it Antiocha Margiana. In more modern days it was one of the four imperial cities of Khorasan, and was long a seat of many of the sultans of Persia, but in particular of those of the Seljuk dynasty. Alp Aralan, the most powerful prince of his time, reigned here for a number of years in all the pomp and splendour of oriental magnificence.
The Mery of to-day is a cluster of Turkoman encampments. The old city of Mery (the Mar giana Antioeha of the ancients) is 12 miles away, and consists of merely a number of ruins imbedded in the sands. The river 3furghab, which runs through Merv, is deep and rapid, and affords a plentiful supply of water for the numerous canals that branch off and irrigate the oasis. The number of Tekke Turkoinans living in the oasis itself may be roughly reckoned at 100,000. The country is famed throughout Central Asia for its fertility ; and if peace and security prevailed in the region, the surplus of the crops would be sufficient for 50,000 troops. Caravans from Khiva, Bokhara, and other provinces of Central Asia pass through it on their way to Persia, Afghanistan, and India.
Most of the people possess large flocks of sheep, and herds of camels and horses. Their bravery bad passed into a proverb ; and it was said that the clans, if united, could put forth a fighting strength of 100,000 sabres. But Russia overcame them in 1883, after a few years of fighting.
In 1786 it was sacked by the Uzbak Amir of Bokhara, and it dwindled to an assemblage of about a hundred mud huts, surrounded by a small mud wall. It is on the right bank of the liurghab, 200 miles from Bokhara, 215 from Meshed, and . .
432 miles S.E. of Khiva. The area of the plain of Mery is about 2400 square miles. Four cities of Mery have been in existence, and their ruins are still visible. One was built by Shah Abbas, another was destroyed by Murad Beg of Bokhara. The Russian Government have occupied the Mery oasis. The occupation is extremely important, not only from a strategical, but from a commercial point of view. The city of Herat is only some 200 miles to the south of it. Mery was regarded by the Persians as the spot where Adam received from the angel the first lesson in agriculture.— Makolm's Persia, ii. p. 232 ; D7. Veniukof ; Collett's Khiva ; Kinneir's Geog. Memoir.