Omelchenko A.V.

Key words: Sogdia, Bukhara oasis, Late Classical period, new investigations, cult architecture, fortification, ceramic finds, numismatic finds.
The article covers the results of new investigations at the citadel of Paikend, an ancient city in the south of Bukhara oasis (modern Uzbekistan). The earliest structures (3d – 4th cc.) that have been investigated are the temple and the defensive walls with adjacent buildings. The details of the temple’s layout confirm its suggested attribution as a Zoroastrian fire temple of a type which finds parallels in Iranian cult architecture. The premises adjacent to the fortress walls are currently being investigated and appear to have housed the garrison. The available data indicates that a lot of construction work was done at the citadel in late antiquity. The author advances the hypothesis that the phenomenon may have been connected with the expansion of Sassanian Iran into the Bukhara oasis.