Ikhshids of Sogdia

**Ikhshids of Sogdia**
*Unash*
Ikhshids of Sogdia; Unash
642–755 CE
	Coin of Sogdian ruler Turgar, Ikhshid of Samarkand. Profile and name of the ruler on the obverse, fire altar with attendants on the reverse. Excavated in Penjikent, 8th century CE, National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan.
	AFRIGHIDS KHUDAS AFSHINS IKHSHIDS YABGHUS TURK SHAHIS UMAYYADS/; ABBASIDS BYZANTINE EMPIRE WESTERN TURKS/; TURGESH CHALUKYAS GUJARA-; PRATIHARA KARKOTAS TANG PATOLAS Location of Samarkand, capital of the Ikhshids, and neighbouring polities.
	KHUDAS AFSHINS IKHSHIDS FERGHANA KHUTTAL CHAGHANIYAN Kunduz Samarkand Herat Bukhara TOKHARA YABGHUS Balkh TURK SHAHIS ZUNBILS Bamiyan Kandahar Ghazni Kabul INDIA Gilgit PATOLA SHAHIS KARKOTA; DYNASTY Hund The Ikhshids, and proximate polities and cities.
Capital	Samarkand
Common languages	Sogdian
Religion	Zoroastrianism
Historical era	Late antiquity
• Established	642
• Disestablished	755 CE
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Hephthalites
	Western Turkic Khaganate
Umayyad Caliphate
Abbasid Caliphate

The Ikhshids of Sogdia, or Ikhshids of Samarkand, were a series of rulers of Soghdia in Transoxiana, with their capital at Samarkand, during the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods.

The princely title "Ikhshid" (from Sogdian: xšyδ, xšēδ "Ruler") is of Iranian origin; scholars have derived it variously from the Old Iranian root khshaeta, "shining, brilliant", or from khshāyathiya, "ruler, king" (which is also the origin of the title shah). The Ikhshids of Soghdia, with their capital at Samarkand, are well attested during and after the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. The rulers of the Principality of Farghana were also called "Ikhshids".