- published: 02 Oct 2015
- views: 2594
Balkh (Persian: بلخ Ancient Greek: Baktra or Zariaspa), was an ancient city and centre of Zoroastrianism in what is now northern Afghanistan. Today it is a small town in the province of Balkh, about 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some 74 km (46 mi) south of the Amu Darya. It was one of the major cities of Khorasan. Marco Polo described Balkh as a "noble and great city".
The ancient city of Balkh was under the Greeks renamed Bactra, giving its name to Bactria. It was mostly known as the centre and capital of Bactria or Takharistan. Balkh is now for the most part a mass of ruins, situated some 12 km from the right bank of the seasonally flowing Balkh River, at an elevation of about 365 m (1,200 ft).
Balkh is one of the oldest cities in the world and is considered to be the first city to which the Indo-Iranian tribes moved from the North of Amu Darya, between 2000 - 1500 BC. The Arabs called it Umm Al-Belaad or Mother of Cities due to its antiquity. The city was traditionally a center of Zoroastianism. The name Zariaspa, which is either an alternate name for Balkh or a term for part of the city, may derive from the important Zoroastrian fire temple Azar-i-Asp. Balkh was regarded as the first place where Zoroaster first preached his religion, as well as the place where he died.
Rubber band, you're like a rubber band-
You keep on snapping back at me,
so this is jealousy.
Hollow vase, you are a hollow vase,
and when you talk to yourself
you hear an answer back.
What type of world are you living in?
What type of sweet thing
would make the medicine better?
What type of world are you waiting for?
You give me one of those headaches
one drink won't take away.
Learning how to hate.
Rumour true, rumour false-
It's all the same to you
on cloud cockoo.
And every mistake that I've ever made
comes back to haunt me,
my own fools gallery.
What type of world are you living in?
What type of sweet thing
would make the medicine better?
What kind of world are you waiting for?
You give me one of those headaches
one drink won't take away.
Learning how to hate.
Our clam chowder comes without the powder-
It doesn't happen here,
this is a nice place.
(solo)
What type of world are you living in?
What type of sweet thing
would make the medicine better?
What kind of world are you waiting for?
You give me one of those headaches
one drink won't take away.
Learning how to hate.
Learning how to hate.