Vardanzi

{{Infobox ancient site

| name =Vardanzi

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| image = Sogdiana. Bukhara. Asbar.jpg

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| caption = Type of coin of ruler Asbar, discovered in Vardanzi, Bukhara, Sogdiana. 6th century - first half of the 7th centuries AD.{{cite web |title=The Society for the Exploration of EurAsia / www.exploration-eurasia.com |url=http://www.exploration-eurasia.com/inhalt_english/frameset_projekt_0.html |website=www.exploration-eurasia.com}} Asbar wears a diadem with frontal crescent.{{cite book |last1=Hamid |first1=Nadia |title=Agency in material? The iconography of headdress at Bamiyan, and what it suggests about relations with neighbouring regions between the 5th and 8th centuries AD |date=2014 |page=77 |url=https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2603130/download}}

| map_type = Uzbekistan#West Asia

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| coordinates = {{coord|40|09|N|64|26|E|region:UZ_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki|display=inline,title}}

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| type = City

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Vardanzi, also Vardanze, is an ancient and medieval town located {{convert|40|km|mi}} north-east of Bukhara, Uzbekistan.{{cite book |last1=Adylov |first1=Šuhrat T. |last2=Mirzaahmedov |first2=Jamal K. |title=ON THE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT TOWN OF VARDĀNA AND THE OBAVIJA FEUD in Ērān ud Anērān. Studies Presented to B. I. Maršak (1st part) |date=2006 |publisher=Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina |pages=31-40 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6567274/%C4%92r%C4%81n_ud_An%C4%93r%C4%81n_Studies_Presented_to_B_I_Mar%C5%A1ak_1st_part_ |language=en}}{{cite web |title=The Society for the Exploration of EurAsia / www.exploration-eurasia.com |url=http://www.exploration-eurasia.com/inhalt_english/frameset_projekt_0.html |website=www.exploration-eurasia.com}} Today there is a reserve in Shafirkan Bukhara region. Historian Narshakhi recorded that Vardana was a big settlement containing the Kuhandiz Ark, a fortified inner city. From "time immemorial" the rulers of Vardana—the Vardan-khudats—resided here. Vardana was founded much earlier than Bukhara. It was built by an otherwise unknown Sasanian prince named Shapur, son of a Sasanian ruler Khusraw (possibly either Khosrow I (531-578) or Khosrow II (590-628)) and situated on the fringe of Turkestan. Remnants of the old Vardana settlement, now known as Vardanze, have survived as a large hill. Vardana, Narshakhi believed, was older than Bukhara, having been built in the 6th century A.D. At the time, Vardanzi was large and well-known city, but due to the translational motion of sand, in the 19th century it was bombarded by them and became uninhabitable.

Vardanzi was ruled by a dynasty of kings who bore the title of Vardan-khudat. The city in those days was of great strategic, industrial and commercial importance. It was a border crossing point for the nomads. The Arabs, led by Qutayba ibn Muslim in the years 708–709, conquered the Romitan possession of Vartan-haudatov.

According to legend, this town was built by a Sassanian prince who had moved to Bukhara and received land from his ruler more than two thousand years ago. Construction of a canal in the area made the Persian prince Shapur popular. The channel—Shapurkam—was named after the legendary prince.