Alexandria of the Caucasus

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Alexandria of the Caucasus

Alexandria of the Caucasus (medieval Kapisa, modern Bagram

Bagram

Bagram, Bagram or Begram was an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband Valley and Panjshir Valley valleys, near today's city of Charikar, Afghanistan....
was a colony of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
(one of many colonies designated with the name Alexandria). He founded the colony at an important junction of communications in the southern foothills of the Hindu Kush

Hindu Kush

The Hindu Kush is a mountain range located in eastern and central Afghanistan, northwestern Pakistan and northeastern India.The origin of the name Hindu Kush is disputed, despite its coinage apparently dating back no further than c.1330....
mountains, in the country of the Paropamisade.

Note: In Classical times, the Hindu Kush were also designated as the "Caucasus" in parallel to their Western equivalent, the Caucasus Mountains

Caucasus Mountains

The Caucasus Mountains is a Mountain range in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea sea in the Caucasus region.The Caucasus Mountains are made up of two separate mountain systems:...
between Europe and Asia.

ander populated the city with 7,000 Macedonians, 3,000 mercenaries and thousands of natives (according to Curtius VII.3.23), or some 7,000 natives and 3,000 non-military camp followers and a quantity of Greek mercenaries (Diodorus, XVIII.83.2), in March 329 BC.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Alexandria of the Caucasus'

Start a new discussion about 'Alexandria of the Caucasus'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Alexandria of the Caucasus (medieval Kapisa, modern Bagram

Bagram

Alexander the Great

Hindu Kush

Note: In Classical times, the Hindu Kush were also designated as the "Caucasus" in parallel to their Western equivalent, the Caucasus Mountains

Caucasus Mountains

Alexander the Great

Alexander populated the city with 7,000 Macedonians, 3,000 mercenaries and thousands of natives (according to Curtius VII.3.23), or some 7,000 natives and 3,000 non-military camp followers and a quantity of Greek mercenaries (Diodorus, XVIII.83.2), in March 329 BC. He had also built forts in what is nowadays Bagram

Bagram

Bagram, Bagram or Begram was an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband Valley and Panjshir Valley valleys, near today's city of Charikar, Afghanistan....
or Begram in Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
, at the foot of the Hindu Kush, replacing forts erected in much the same place by Persia's king Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great , , also known as Cyrus II of Persia and Cyrus the Elder, was a Persian people Shah . He was the founder of the Persian Empire under the Achaemenid dynasty, an empire, perhaps the most wealthy and magnificent in history....
c. 500 BC.

Indo-Greek capital

Alexandria of the Caucasus was one of the capitals of the Indo-Greek kings (180 BC-AD 10). During the reign of Menander I

Menander I

Menander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom in northern India and present-day Pakistan from either 165 BC or 155 BC to 130 BC ....
the city was recorded as having a thriving Buddhist community, headed by Greek monks. In Buddhist literature, the Greek (Pali

Páli

P?li is a village in Gyor-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.External links...
: Yona
Yona

"Yona" is a Pali word used in ancient India to designate Greek language speakers. Its equivalent in Sanskrit and Tamil language is the word "Yavana"....
, lit: "Ionia

Ionia

Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest Izmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Hellenes settlements....
n") Buddhist monk Mahadhammarakkhita

Mahadharmaraksita

Mahadhammarakkhita was a Greek Buddhist master, who lived during the 2nd century BCE during the reign of the Indo-Greek king Menander I.In the Mahavamsa, a key Pali historical text, he is recorded as having travelled from ?Alasandra? , with 30,000 monks for the dedication ceremony of the Maha Thupa at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, when it...
is said to have come from “Alasandra” (thought to be Alexandria of the Caucasus), with 30,000 monks for the foundation ceremony of the Maha Thupa ("Great stupa

Stupa

A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, once thought to be places of Buddhist worship, typically the remains of a Buddha or saint....
") at Anuradhapura

Anuradhapura

Anuradhapura, , is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of ancient Lankan civilization.The city, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies 205 km north of the current capital Colombo in Sri Lanka's North Central Province, Sri Lanka, on the banks of the historic Malvathu Oya....
in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India....
:

"From Alasanda the city of the Yonas came the thera (elder) Yona
Yona

"Yona" is a Pali word used in ancient India to designate Greek language speakers. Its equivalent in Sanskrit and Tamil language is the word "Yavana"....
Mahadhammarakkhita with thirty thousand bhikkhu
Bhikkhu

A Bhikkhu , Bhiksu is a fully ordained male Buddhism monastic. Female monastics are called Bhikkhunis . Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis keep many precepts: they live by the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline, the basic rules of which are called the patimokkha....
s." (Mahavamsa

Mahavamsa

The Mahavamsa, is a historical poem written in the Pali language, of the monarch of Sri Lanka. It covers the period from the coming of King Vijaya of Kalinga in 543 BCE to the reign of King Mahasena ....
, XXIX)

The divinity of the city seems to have been Zeus

Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
, as suggested by coins of the Greco-Bactrian king Eucratides.

Archaeology

Some archaeological evidence concerning Alexandria of the Caucasus was gathered by Charles Masson (1800 - 1853), providing insight into the history of that lost city. His findings include coins, rings, seals and other small objects. In the 1930s Roman Ghirshman

Roman Ghirshman

Roman Ghirshman was a Ukraine-born France archeology who specialized in ancient Iran.A native of Kharkov, Ghirshman moved to Paris in 1917 to study Archeology and Ancient Languages....
, while conducting excavations near Bagram, found Egypt

Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
ian and Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
n glassware, bronze statuettes, bowls and other objects including statues. This is an indication that Alexander's conquests have opened India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
to imports from the west.