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Paropamisadae (; ) or Paropamisus (; ) was the ancient Greek name for a region of the Hindu-Kush in eastern Afghanistan
Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
, centered on the cities of Kabul
Kabul

Kabul is the Capital and largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of approximately three million. It is an economic and cultural centre, situated 5,900 foot above sea level in a narrow valley, wedged between the Hindu Kush mountains along the Kabul River....
 and 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....
).

History of Paropamisadae
The ancient Buddhist texts, the Mahajanapada of Kamboja
Kamboja

Kamboja may refer to:*the ancient tribe of the Kambojas of the Hindukush in Iron Age India**Kambojas in South Asian literature*the Kamboja Kingdom, one of the Mahajanapadas of Iron Age India...
 comprised the territories of Paropamisus and extended towards southwest, as far as Rajauri
Rajauri

Rajouri is a town and a notified area committee in Rajouri district in the Indian States and territories of India of Jammu and Kashmir....
 to south-west of Kashmir
Kashmir

Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" referred only to the valley lying between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal range; since then, it has been used for a larger area that today includes the Indian administerd state of Jammu and Kashmir consisting of the Kashmir...
.






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Map Alexander Empire
Paropamisadae (; ) or Paropamisus (; ) was the ancient Greek name for a region of the Hindu-Kush in eastern Afghanistan
Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
, centered on the cities of Kabul
Kabul

Kabul is the Capital and largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of approximately three million. It is an economic and cultural centre, situated 5,900 foot above sea level in a narrow valley, wedged between the Hindu Kush mountains along the Kabul River....
 and 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....
).

History of Paropamisadae


The ancient Buddhist texts, the Mahajanapada of Kamboja
Kamboja

Kamboja may refer to:*the ancient tribe of the Kambojas of the Hindukush in Iron Age India**Kambojas in South Asian literature*the Kamboja Kingdom, one of the Mahajanapadas of Iron Age India...
 comprised the territories of Paropamisus and extended towards southwest, as far as Rajauri
Rajauri

Rajouri is a town and a notified area committee in Rajouri district in the Indian States and territories of India of Jammu and Kashmir....
 to south-west of Kashmir
Kashmir

Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" referred only to the valley lying between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal range; since then, it has been used for a larger area that today includes the Indian administerd state of Jammu and Kashmir consisting of the Kashmir...
. The region came under Achaemenid Persian
Achaemenid Empire

The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire was amongst the first Persian Empires that ruled over significant portions of Greater Iran, and followed the Ancient Iranian peoples Median Empire....
 control in the late 500s BC, either during the reign of 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....
 or Darius I.

In the 320s BC, 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....
 conquered the entire Persian Empire (including the Paropamisadae), beginning the Hellenistic period
Hellenistic period

The Hellenistic period describes the era which followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. During this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its zenith in Europe and Asia....
. The Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 name ?a??paµ?s?da? or ?a??paµ?ss?? was used extensively in Greek literature to describe the conquests 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....
 and those of the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kings, from the 3rd to the 1st century BCE. (The name possibly came from the Avestic for "higher than an eagle
Eagle

Eagles are large bird of prey which are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several Genus which are not necessarily closely related to each other....
 can fly").

After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the area came under control of the Seleucid Empire
Seleucid Empire

The Seleucid Empire /s?'lus?d/ was a Hellenistic empire, i.e. a successor state of Alexander the Great's empire. The Seleucid Empire was centered in the near East and at the height of its power included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir Mountains and parts of Pakistan....
, which gave the region to the Mauryan Dynasty of India in 305 BC. After the fall of the Mauryans in 185 BC, the Greco-Bactrians
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world, covering Bactria and Sogdiana in Central Asia from 250 to 125 BCE....
 under King Demetrius I
Demetrius I of Bactria

Demetrius I or was a Buddhist Greco-Bactrian king . He was the son of Euthydemus I and succeeded him around 200 BC, after which he conquered extensive areas in what now is eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan thus creating an Indo-Greek kingdom far from Hellenistic Greece....
 annexed the western half of the former Mauryan Empire (including Paropamisadae), and it became part of his Euthydemid Indo-Greek Kingdom
Indo-Greek Kingdom

The Indo-Greek Kingdom covered various parts of the northwest and northern Indian subcontinent during the last two centuries BC, and was ruled by more than 30 Hellenistic civilization kings, often in conflict with each other....
. The Eucratidians seized the city soon after the death 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 ....
, but lost it to the Yuezhi
Yuezhi

The Yuezhi or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people.They are believed by most scholars to have been an Indo-European people, and may have been the same as or closely related to the Tocharians of Classical sources....
 or Tocharians
Tocharians

The Tocharians were the Tocharian language-speaking inhabitants of the Tarim Basin, making them the easternmost speakers of an Indo-European language in antiquity....
 around 125 BC.

Geography and peoples

The Paropamisadae was located north of Arachosia
Arachosia

Arachosia or Arachotae is the latinized form of Greek language name of an Achaemenid Empire and Seleucid Empire governorate in the eastern part of their respective empires, and that was inhabited by the Iranian peoples Arachosians or Arachoti ....
 and Drangiana
Drangiana

Drangiana was a historical region of the Achaemenid Empire, now part of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Eastern Iran. The land was inhabited by a Iranian peoples tribe which the Greeks referred to as Sarangians or Drangians....
, east of Aria
Aria (satrapy)

Aria , name of a region in the eastern part of the Persian empire, several times confused with Ariane in the classical sources....
, south of Bactria
Bactria

Bactria is a historical region of Greater Iran. Known by the ancient Greeks as "Bactriana" the region is located between the range of the Hindu Kush and the Amu Darya ; in later times, the region became known as Tokharistan. The name of the region has survived to present time in the name of Afghan province "Balkh"....
, and west of Kashmir
Kashmir

Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" referred only to the valley lying between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal range; since then, it has been used for a larger area that today includes the Indian administerd state of Jammu and Kashmir consisting of the Kashmir...
. There were two main rivers flowing through the land, the Coas or Cophen (??f??) and the Dorgamanes (????aµ????) or Orgomanes further north.

The name "Paropamisadae" was used originally to refer to the collection of peoples inhabiting the region, and was later used as a toponym for the area itself. These nations were: the Cabolitae in the north near modern Kabul; the Parsii (???s???) in the northwest, the Ambautae in the east and the Par(g)yetae in the south, who were also found in Arachosia
Arachosia

Arachosia or Arachotae is the latinized form of Greek language name of an Achaemenid Empire and Seleucid Empire governorate in the eastern part of their respective empires, and that was inhabited by the Iranian peoples Arachosians or Arachoti ....
. The majpr cities of the land were the city of Ortospana or Carura (??????a), probably identifiable with Kabul, Gauzaca (Ga??a?a), probably modern Ghazni
Ghazni

Ghazni City is a city in central Afghanistan, with an approximate population of 141,000 people. It is the capital of Ghazni Province, situated on a plateau at 7,280 feet above sea level....
, Capissa (?ap?ssa) in the northeast, and Parsia (?a?s?a), the capital of the Parsii.

Paropamisus Mountains

The name "Paropamisus" (as regards the Paropamisus Mountains) had previously been used by Western geographers and geologists during the 19th and 20th centuries (and perhaps further back) to describe the Siah Koh, Safed Koh, Chalap Dalan, and Malmand Mountain Ranges of western Afghanistan. However, it is slowly falling out of use in the West in favor of local names, as it is not used by the people or government of Afghanistan.

See also

  • Indo-Greek kingdom
    Indo-Greek Kingdom

    The Indo-Greek Kingdom covered various parts of the northwest and northern Indian subcontinent during the last two centuries BC, and was ruled by more than 30 Hellenistic civilization kings, often in conflict with each other....
  • Greco-Bactrian kingdom
    Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

    The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world, covering Bactria and Sogdiana in Central Asia from 250 to 125 BCE....