The river known to the ancient Greeks as the Oxus, whose middle basin the Ersari settled. It gave them water, pasture and trade routes.
The Amu Darya is the great river of Central Asia, known to the ancient Greeks as the Oxus. The Ersari settled its middle basin, and the river gave them what a weaving people need: water, pasture for the Karakul flocks, and trade routes to carry rugs to market.
It is also a border and a line of memory. Many Turkmen families crossed it from Turkmenistan into northern Afghanistan during a century of upheaval, and towns along it, such as Beshir, gave their names to the weaving made there.
