Kalai Mug Fortress

Kalai-mug (Taj. Kalai MuҚ - castle of mug; mugi, or magicians, pre-Muslim priests) - castle (fortress) on Mount Mug, an archaeological monument of 7-8 centuries in Tajikistan in the upper reaches of the Zeravshan River, 3 km from the village of Khairabad Aininsky area, about 60 km east of Panjakent.

The building was located on a steep mountain, at a height of 120 m from the confluence of the Kum River in Zeravshan and was a courtyard and a two-story building made of stone and brick measuring 18.5 × 19.5 m. Inside the building there were five vaulted rooms connected through a passage.

In 1932, a shepherd from the Tajik village of Khairabad found a basket with fragments of ancient documents in the ruins of a mountain. After some time, the find was delivered to Leningrad to the famous orientalist A. A. Freiman, who established that the document contains a text in Sogdian.
In the autumn of 1933, an expedition was organized to the place of discovery under the direction of A. A. Freiman, which discovered a large archive of documents: 74 in Sogdian, one in Arabic, one in Ancient Turkic and several in Chinese. It was also discovered many household items (silk, cotton, woolen fabrics, leather shoes, wooden utensils), weapons, coins. Of particular interest is a wooden leather-covered shield with the image of a Sogdian warrior. In the postwar period, excavations continued under the direction of A. Yu. Yakubovsky.
Documents found on Mount Mug - letters, business records, contracts - made it possible to establish that at the beginning of the 8th century. n e. the castle was the last refuge of the Sogdian ruler Panjakent Devashtich, hiding there from the Arab conquerors. The castle is mentioned in Arabic sources as the castle of Abgar (Abgar).
The archive of documents is currently stored at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and material finds are in the Hermitage.