Sogdians

**Sogdia**
Sogdiana, c. 300 BC, then under the Seleucid Empire, a diadochi successor state to the empire created by Alexander the Great
Languages	Sogdian language
Religions	Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity
Capitals	Samarkand, Bukhara, Khujand, Kesh
Area	Between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya
Existed	6th century BC to 11th century AD

Sogdia (/ˈsɔːɡdiə, ˈsɒɡ-/; Old Persian: Suguda-, صُتْ, Middle Persian: sugd, New Persian: سُغْد, soghd) or Sogdiana (/ˌsɔːɡdiˈænə, ˌsɒɡ-/) was the ancient Indo-European civilization of an Iranian people that at different times included territory located in present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan such as: Samarkand, Bukhara, Khujand, Panjikent and Shahrisabz. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid Empire, eighteenth in the list on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great (i. 16). In the Avesta, Sogdiana is listed as the second best land that the supreme deity Ahura Mazda had created. It comes second, after Airyanem Vaejah, "homeland of the Aryans", in the Zoroastrian book of Vendidad, indicating the importance of this region from ancient times. Sogdiana was conquered by the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great in 328 BC and later formed part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and Sasanian Empire.