THE CEREMONIAL FUNCTION OF MARKETS IN THE TIMURID CITY In 1950, on the basis of a description by Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, Ratija reconstructed ‘one of the great shopping streets ran through ‘Samarkand from its boundary walls to the city centre. Clavijo’s describes Timur’s_ (Tamerlane’s) need to create a solemn (official) place in which goods from Tartary, India and China, as well as from other parts of his empire, could be sold in proper fashion. The avenue was designed with shops on both sides with counters lined with white tiles, and with foun- tains at regular intervals. Due to this cons- truction programme, the former inhabitants of the buildings destroyed ruthlessly to make room for the new constructions and for the ‘merchants to be installed in them were turn- ed out, and so complained, via intermedia- ries, to Tamerlane. Tamerlane was furious and’ answered in singular fashion that: “This city is mine. | bought it with my own money and I have written proof which | will show you tomorrow, and if you are in the right | will pay you what 'you ask.”? Of Ratija's reconstruction, which however is hypothetical, as the author himself recogn- izes, no trace remains today, although in the ninth century, that system of six roads con- verging on the city centre was still seen and, described by many authors? Whatsoever there are various points of interest in Clavi- jo’s account. First and foremost, Tamerla- 1ne’s will to implement systematically a monu- mental building “programme” in which the markets play a significant role. This will clearly stemmed from the necessity to settle artisans and traders from every part of the Tamerisne’s ecumene, so that Samarkand would become a metropolis able to stand against the other great cities of the time, such as Cairo and Damascus.« What strikes us about Clavijo's description is the answer to those who asked for compensation for the inhabitants turned out of their homes; the sovereign in fact stated that he was the “owner” of the city and that he possessed documents certifying this. Another interest- ing feature of Clavijo's account regards the way the shops were arranged on both sides of the street and were designed with two rooms, one probably intended for sales ope- rations, in which the marble counter stood, and the other for other uses, perhaps a store ‘or a workshop. At intervals, moreover, the “design” of the street contemplated foun- tains. We will be returning later to these aspects of Clavijo’s description, but here Iwould like to underline function of these commercial streets: that of ceremony. In this respect itis worth noting that already before 1404, the year of Clavijo's description, Tamerlane and his aristocracy used the porticoed, shop- fronted avenues for their triumphant proces- sions on their return from military victories or ‘on the occasion of public celebrations, as, for example, marriages. The use of markets in this sense is not new, and we find it in Fati- mid Cairo as described by Naser-e Khos- row: “In the year 439 [AD 1047] the sultan ordered general rejoicing for the birth of a son: the city and bazaars were so arrayed that, were they to be described, some would not believe that drapers’ and moneychangers’ shops could be so decorated with gold, jewels, coins, goldspun cloth and embroidery, that there was no room to sit down!"» The Persian sources for the Timurid period, and especially the Zaferndme by Yazdi and Sami, include similar poetic passages in- serted in their chronicles. In 1394, for instance, Samarkand was decked out fest- ively to welcome Sahrox:® *... Samarkand was decked out so festively as to stupefy the mind; from top to bottom all the skilled workers | (mardom-e pisavar) showed off their respective specialities; in a glorifiyng way 7 roads and lanes made the city as ornate as sublime paradise; the ba- zaars became flowery meadows with the ex- pension of the decorations on the walls; from ‘one end of the portals to the other standards and even caftans and belts interwoven with gold were hoisted; from the gate of the city all the way to the sovereign’s residence purple fabrics and satin cloths were cast over the streets; the whole city was an image of gold and ornaments; gold and silver were scattered at the horses’ feet. "= In 1396, on his return from Hamadan, Tamer- lane entered a Samarkand richly decorated for the occasion: “They decorated the world with joy, they brought forth musicians from everywhere (rémesgaran); the scattered pearls formed a mantle on the face of the earth and the whole city was an image of golden ornament; many crossroads (cértaq) heaped with decorations were the envy of a Nile of porticoes (Nil-e revéq); a decoration was arranged on every Portico and under it, at every corner, some musicians; the whole realm had become em: bellishment: the doors, the walls and the ter- races were filled with decorations, and evenTION OF THE SAMARKAND COMMERCIAL AREAin the lanes and in the markets the walls were adorned with decorations; the craftsmen had decked out all the bazaars from one end to the other. Silks and brocades were strewn over the whole road, and over them (passed) the (royal) horses’ hooves. The gold spangled with silver and the interwoven decorations covered the surface of the whole district; left and right, above and below, no- thing was visible that was not of splendid shape.”* Similar celebrations are described in the commentary to Sami's Zaferndme, in which circumstance the orate, festive city was Herat, with a wedding procession in 1379. For the occasion Tamerlane ordered the city to be decorated like the garden of Eram, and ornaments were placed from the beginning of the Juy-e Nou to the market crossroads (cahédrsuy). All the corporations of craftsmen (firgat az mohtarefe) were convened and were ordered to carry out a work of extraor- dinary skill and craft, each according to his capacity. Doors and walls were in this way decked with Byzantine and Chinese bro- cades. The domes became elegant, lovely scenes (xub manzar), and on ali sides singers (moghanniyan) intoned songs, food for the spirit, drink for the soul." As in Samarkand, the commercial area of Herat, too, was founded by Sahrox, who: “ordered bazaars to be made of baked brick and mortar; tall arches were built and the roof of the bazaar covered over, with spaces left for light; the view of the onlookers was met by chambers (soffe) with smaller rooms (hojre) above. The bazaar was a spectacle in the eye of the world and a meadow in the springtime. Its covered market (cahdr suy) was a square with four equal sides, situated in the centre of the circle of charitable works (khair al-biga’). From the four gates of the town, four roads led to that place (the chahar su)."" The necessity to restore systematically the Timurid markets thus seems linked to a cere- monial function performed by the markets. This function was certainly not new in the Timurid period (see the passage by Naser-e Khosrow) and reflects the need for an ‘offi cia!’ integration of the artisan components at important moments in the social life of the city (weddings, circumcisions of princes, ‘celebrations of military victories). In such cir- ‘cumstances, apart from displaying the riches of the realm, exemplary public trials or of- ficial investitures could take place. Other ceremonies were held outside the urban enclosure, such as military reviews (‘arz or este'rdz,)"* or feasts devoted to the res- tricted circle of the family, such as those in which Clavijo participated in the gardens out- side of the city of Samarkand." The use of the shop-lined avenues with a ceremonial function was thus limited to celebrations which - to use a terminology often adopted by the Persians - involved the khass 0 ‘am, namely the nobles and the populace in the generic distinction typical of Islamic socio- logy. The function of the ahl-e harefe (the cratt- smen)'* in these events calls for a number of further historical considerations. Expanding into the suburbs of Samarkand and rationa~ lizing them in a mercantile key, Tamerlane encompasses the artisan components. in what he himself calls “his property”. The pro- cess of merging the mercantile and the handicraft areas with the _political- ‘administrative ones is not a new fact. Aban- doning the sahrestan had already occurred in Samarkand as in Merv in the course of the preceding centuries.** Cuneo has noted that this passage coincides with the transition from an ‘archaic’ period “with its feudal-type organization (...) based on the supremacy of a landowning aristocracy possessing whole Villages and monopolizing agricultural pro- duction and the caravan traffic, to a ‘mature’ Period which in the ninth century witnessed the emergence of new classes (...) formed by rich merchants and by an aristocracy of officials and of craftsmen no longer subser- nt to the rights of the landowners.” While numerous market-towns designed sepa- rately from the political-administrative cen- tres according to the ‘archaic’ pattern (e.g. ‘Suq al-Amir, founded by the Buyid ‘Adud ad- Dawia in the tenth century) continued to survive, the integration of the two compo- nents of archaic cities seems to have deve loped further with the Seljuks.%» This period is the climax of the artisan classes, as. wit- nessed for example by numerous metal ob- jects and the indications supplied by the wealth of epigraphic material. The enhancement of handicraft activities may be put down to Ismailite propaganda and more generally reflects the legitimist Needs of a social class - the merchant craft- ‘smen class - at its height in the Seljuk era.*" This complex problem is one of the nodal points of the conception of the Islamic