Rusana: Difference between revisions

[[File:Gate of Pharod.jpg|thumb|Ruins of the Gate of Pharod|alt=|left]]

The territory of modern Rusana has been continously inhabited since at least the fourth millenium BC when migratory waves of people possibly originating in the plains of north [[Alshar]] settled in the area. The civilization centered in the ancient city of Pharod dates at least back to 3890 BC according to radiocarbon dating. For much of antiquity the city of Pharod held a preeminent position and its people spread to other parts of modern day Rusana, founding new cities such as Nasrad, Khaton, Turaq and Rilban. All of these cities had their own kings but they still deferred and sent tribute to Pharod as the mother city. The kings of Pharod promoted agriculture and new methods of irrigation, created the regions first coinage made from hardened clay, instituted an alphabet and writing in clay tablets and began the first roads of hardened dirt to connect  cities. Pharodian civilization established diplomatic and trade relations with Corummese proto states to the east and with the polities of the Pukhgundi peninsula to the west. The Pharodians worshiped a pantheon of pagan gods, chief among them Dagan, a god of the sky, with the king serving as Dagan's head priest. This gave the pharodian line of kings  a dual role as both secular ruler and head of the state religion. In time this would lead to attempts to bring Pharod's colonies under more direct control, starting a series of bloody conflicts. In 1020 BC an alliance between Nasrad and Khaton started a war against the mother city of Pharod. The Pharodian army was ambushed and all but destroyed at the Battle of Parnaza, leaving the city defenseless and leading to its brutal sacking by the Nasrid and Khaton armies. After this Pharod went into an irreversible decline, with the city no longer ruled by a native king but by bureaucrats from Nasrad and Khaton. Statues and religious icons from the cult of Dagan were moved to Nasrad, signifying the city's new status as the overlord of the region. The collection of cities under the overlordship of Nasrad is now believed by modern historians to have been called the Union of Nasrad and Khaton, as the two victors over Pharod were for a time equals. It's under the reign of King Xvim the Black in 935 BC that the union began to fall apart over disputes centered in religious and diplomatic protocol. Xvim demanded that envoys from Khaton prostrate before him instead of the customary bowing, thus acknowledging the supremacy of Nasrad over Khaton. This dispute broke out into fighting in Pharod between the rival camps, with the Nasrids being chased out of the city. In response Xvim marched his army and laid siege to Pharod, demanding that Khaton surrender control of the city to him.

Starting in 665 CE, the expanding [[Oduniyyad Caliphate]] began its conquest of the southwestern states of [[Alshar]]. The wali of the Bulkawan wilayat, a certain Malik Ibn Harun landed in [[Pukhgundi]] with thirty thousand troops and secured the submission and conversion of its rulers to Islam. He reorganized the kingdom into the Alsar Wilayah with himself as governor. Founding the fort of Haras at the eastern edge of Pukhgundi's territory and leaving a small garrison, Malik Ibn Harun continued his eastern march along the coast into the territory of the Kingdom of Lakdu, his army augmented by five thousand levies from Pukhgundi. Ibn Harun then gained the allegiance of the Lakdu vassal king of Sikam, impressing him with the size of his army and the tenets of Islam. Proceeding east and with his army led by Sikam guides, he outmaneuvered the Lakdu army and defeated it at the battles of Lodran and Porus, ending the kingdom's organized resistance.  

[[File:Hephthalites_chieftain_late_5th_century.jpg|thumb|Coin minted with an image of wali Malik Ibn Harun, used as proof of treason against Caliph Mansur I]]  

In 725 the Caliph Abdul Hakan declared a jihad upon Corumm who began to be called Kafiristan (land of the unbelievers) for a series of Corummese raids on the border city of [[Khov|Khovedjan]]. Governor Walid  Al Muminir was commanded to throw back the infidels past the Arik Mountain range which marked the traditional boundary between the two realms.

====Chen Dynasty-Rusani Wars====

Following the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Horoz plain in 1060, the kingdom of Ghanim fell into the sphere of the [[Corumm|Chen]] dynasty. Emboldened by the victory at Horoz, the Chen dynasty initiated an invasion of Barpubad intending to gain the southern shore of lake Doyeon. As the Chen marched south in the direction of Barpubad's heartland, their enemy divided its forces into three separate armies, refusing to engage general Qu Hou's larger army in the open. After reducing several fortresses in late 861, Qu Hou marched on the Barpubad capital. The main Barpubadid army finally stood in his way to give battle at the village of Pasdar but unbeknownst to Qu Hou his army was being flanked from the east and the west by the other two formations. The initial battle went in favor of the larger Chen army but as it was close to overwhelming the Barpudadid infantry the auxiliary armies initiated their attack from the rear and eastern flank. The morale of the Chen collapsed upon being close to encirclement and a rout soon initiated. Qu Hou broke free of the trap with a few hundred horsemen and fled north while the bulk of the Chen infantry tried to flee west, only to get bogged down and picked off in the marshes. The defeat at the battle of Pasdar ended the Barpubad expedition and dented Chen military prestige altough Ghanim's own weakened position at the time precluded it taking advantage to throw off its vassal status.