DISCOVERIESK
nown by anci
writers as t
“land of a tho
sand cities,” t
Persian provi
of Bactria lies in what
now part of Afghanist
Uzbekistan, and Tajikist
In the fourth century
Alexander the Great co
quered the region as
pushed his empire east-
ward. He married a Bactrian
princess and founded many
cities there where a blend-
ed Hellenistic and Asiatic
culture would blossom over
the centuries that followed.
In the 19th century Eu-
ropean explorers yearned
to find one of these cities.
They ventured deep into
Bactrian territory, follow-
ing the Amu Darya, the riv-
er the Greeks historically
identified as the Oxus.A British army captain,
John Wood, visited a prom-
ising village, Ay Khanom,
at the foot of the Hindu
Kush mountains (near the
border with modern-day
Tajikistan). Locals informed
him that an ancient city had
once stood there, but Wood
could find no trace of it.
A French archaeologist,
Jules Barthoux, came to Ay
Khanom in 1926, but the site
would not be excavated un-
til the 1960s. In 1961 Mo-
hammed Zahir Shah, king
of Afghanistan, was huntingnear Ay Khanom when he
found the remains of what
looked like an ancient city.
Following the king’s dis-
covery, the French Archae-
ological Delegation in Af-
ghanistan (DAFA) began
exploring the site at Ay
Khanom in 1965. Their ex-
cavations lasted until 1978, a
year before the Soviet inva-
sion of Afghanistan plunged
the country into decades of
war. The team’s work pro-
vided valuable information
on the hellenization of areas
of Central Asia by Alexan-
der and his successors.Greek Life in Asia
Other Greek cities found-
ed in Afghanistan at the
time—such as Alexandria
in Aria and Alexandria in
Arachosia—are believed
to be buried underneath the
modern cities of Herat and
Kandahar. These locationsmake them difficult for
scholars to access. Dig-
ging near rural Ay Khanom
proved much easier and
very rewarding.AY KHANOM, site of
an ancient Hellenistic
city, sits on the Amu
Darya river in northern
Afghanistan. In their
search for artifacts,
looters have left it
pockmarked with pits.Ay Khanom: Alexander’s
Outpost in Asia
The search for one of Alexander the Great’s cities in Asia drew schol-
ars to a remarkable site along the Amu Darya. Discovered by the king
of Afghanistan in the 1960s, the site of Ay Khanom began yielding its
secrets and revealed a thriving fortress city where two cultures met.GOLDEN STATEROF ANTIOCHUS I, RULER OF THE HELLENISTIC SELEUCID EMPIRE, FOUND AT AY KHANOMExcavation work begins
at Ay Khanom. The
discoveries shed new
light on the spread of
Greek culture in Asia.Afghanistan’s king
discovers remnants of
an ancient city, which
draws the attention of
scholars in Kabul.Surveying Afghanistan,
French archaeologist
Jules Barthoux
suggests Ay Khanom is
of scholarly interest.On a tip from local
residents, Briton
John Wood visits Ay
Khanom in search of
Alexander’s cities.1838 1926 1961 1965
AKG/ALBUMDANITA DELIMONT/ALAMY/ACI