Neyshabur has been standing for thousands of years, relying on a long and distant history, reminding of many ancient memories and numerous events that have happened in this city, from small and big events that sometimes led to the destruction of the town and its resurgence, to a brilliant culture and learned men and women who arose from the heart of that culture. Shadyakh is a reminder of the ancient history of Neyshabour. It was one of the zones of this city.
From when the Parthians settled in Neyshabur until several centuries later, many tribes tried to take control of Neyshabur; a city that shone like a jewel in Great Khorasan. The Turks of Ghoz, Mongols, Uzbeks and the Afghan tribes that overthrew the Safavid dynasty, were all seeking to rule over Neyshabur. Besides, Neyshabur has also experienced natural disasters, such as earthquakes, resulting total damage. All these events have given Neyshabur a rich and unique history.
Ancient Shadyakh
In the third lunar century, Abdullah Pour Taher (who died in 230 lunar years), a great commander of the Taherian dynasty (having Iranian origin) founded a place in Neyshabur and named it Shadyakh. Shadyakh means “joyful”. This place was vibrant until the second half of the 7th century when an earthquake destroyed it, and now valuable historic ruins remain of it.
Shadyakh was a place where the nobles and the rich, including the ruling circle, commanders and courtiers lived. Not only the Taherian rulers, but also the Seljuk Turks highly valued Shadyakh, and strived to invest in it and turn it into a prosperous neighborhood. The Taherians had built a palace in it with an excellent reputation. This palace was also destroyed in the Neyshabur earthquake in the second half of the 8th century. At the same time, Genghis Khan’s Mongol army made Neyshabur even more ruined than it was. Remains of that palace are now used as a center for Neyshabur’s archeological activity.
Shadyakh palace was destroyed in the earthquake of lunar year (as we mentioned). Around this palace there were beautiful gardens, whose first saplings are said to have been planted by order of Yaqub Leith Safari when he conquered Neyshabur, and the years that followed these saplings turned into huge and shady trees. Shadyakh , as it appears from ancient historical writings, was beautiful and impressive. The Samanian and the Ghaznavi rulers also strived to maintain its beauty. They did their best to preserve this part of the great city of Neyshabur.
To know what values Shadiyah had, it is enough to say that Khayyam and Attar Neyshaburi lived in this neighborhood. In this Shadyakh , Tughrel I Seljuk was crowned in the first half of the 5th century and founded the Seljuk Empire. The Seljuks paid so much attention to Shadyakh that they held many of their joyous rituals (such as the wedding party of Sultan Arslan’s son) in this neighborhood and its palace.
We mentioned that Shadyakh is now a focus of archaeological research in Neyshabur. It was in the year 1379 that after the excavations, the remnants of the halls and houses, each of which had a particular use, were brought out from under the ground. Those houses were used as factories for winemaking, pottery and glassmaking, etc., which shows the dynamics of this ancient neighborhood, in the past centuries. What the archaeologists found in Shadyakh included pottery and beautiful glass containers. The skeletons found in the heart of the Shadyakh lands are the remains of the dead of the earthquake or the massacre of the Mongols in the city of Neyshabur. Let’s also mention the plaster casts and pieces of the cobblestones of the streets of that time in Shadyakh, which were discovered in the same excavations.
