ii. Historical Period

Near the mounds in the area identified with the “Parthian camp” called Gatar mentioned by Isidore of Charax there is an oval fortress covering nine hectares built in the 3rd-4th/9th-10th centuries. In the early 7th/13th century the walls and the town were destroyed by the Mongols, but at the end of the 8th-9th/14th-15th centuries life in the town was on the upsurge. During the strife of the 10th-12th/16th-18th centuries, the fortress, called Bagabad, preserved its importance; agriculture was maintained, and the village of Anaw came into existence with watchtowers (ding) guarding its homes and their grounds. Anaw was known for its large mosque, which was erected, according to the inscriptions on its portal, in 860/1455-56 at the tomb of shaikh Jamāl-al-dīn by his son Moḥammad—probably Moḥammad Ḵodāydād, vizier of the ruler of Khorasan Abu’l-Qāsem Bābor, also mentioned. This monumental complex uniquely combined a commemorative mosque, the ayvān of which rose over the shaikh’s tomb, a ḵānaqāh with a hall for Sufi religious assemblies, a madrasa, and ḥoǰra for pilgrims. The ayvān contained remarkable mosaic tympana picturing writhing dragons on a background of tangled vegetation. The building was destroyed to its foundation by the earthquake of 1948.