Alexandria of the Caucasus is a Hellenistic city located at the southern foot of the Hindu Kush , in Paropamisad . It was founded by Alexander the Great in March 329 BC. e. on the site of the capital of the Persian satrapy Gandhara and is inhabited by seven thousand Macedonians, three thousand mercenaries and several thousand natives. The name is explained by the fact that the ancient Greeks called the Caucasus (Καύκασος) all mountain chains stretching along and between the Black, Caspian and Aral Seas from the eastern Pontica to the Pamirs (for example, in the 19th century Kopet-Dag was called the Turkmen Caucasus , and the Hindu Kush is the Afghan Caucasus ) [ 1] [2] .
| Ancient city | |
| Alexandria Caucasian | |
|---|---|
In the II – I centuries. BC e. Alexandria (called "Alasandra") was one of the capitals of the Indo-Greek kingdom . Buddhism flourished at court, with many monks speaking Greek. In Sri Lanka, it is believed that thirty thousand monks from Alasandra were present at the foundation of the great stupa in Anuradhapura .
The exact location of Alexandria by archaeologists has not been established. Most scholars are looking for the ruins of Alexandria, about 45 km north of Kabul , near Bagram . Pakistani archaeologists believe that Alexandria is a modern Charikar .
Notes
Literature
- Alexandria in the Caucasus , Livius.org
- Hellenism: East and West. / under. ed. E. Golubtsova - Institute of World History ( Russian Academy of Sciences ) - Science , 1992. - P. 25. ISBN 5-02-009062-X
- Shofman A.S. Eastern policy of Alexander the Great. - Publishing house of Kazan University , 1976. - S. 212
- Tolstov S.P. Ancient Khorezm. - “Ripol Classic”, 2013. - P. 231. ISBN 5-458-40835-7 , 9785458408356 (or the first edition of 1948, published by Moscow State University ).