Advent of Empires

The native wealth of Afghanistan - rich in gold, copper, tin, lapislazuli, garnet, and carnelia - did not go unnoticed by its neighbors. In the sixth century BC, the region fell to the Persians. It is through them that we first learn the local name of the lands of northern Afghanistan: Bactria. In the fourth century BC, Alexander the Great and his army conquered Bactria, and his successors established a Hellenized government there, bringing Greek language, art, and religion to the area. (fig. 2) With the exception of some beautifully minted coins, however, tangible traces of this Greco-Bactrian culture remained elusive until recently. The subsequent history of Bactria is known from several sources: Chinese chronicles, which describe waves of nomads from the northern steppes moving into the region; Indian accounts, which tell of the rise of independent states; and local coinage that documents kings of the Kushan Dynasty (1st- 3rd centuries AD). The Kushans, who are said to have been descendants of the invading nomads, established an empire reaching from southern Bactria to the Ganges River Valley in India.

Fig. 2: Cat. No. 4 Corinthian Capital (Balkh), 3rd-2nd century BC (limestone, 83 x 61 x 58 cm (32 11/ 16 x 24 x 22 13/ 16)) - National Museum of Afghanistan © Thierry Ollivier / Musée Guimet

BALKH, the capital of Bactria, was described in antiquity as "Balkh the beautiful, Balkh the mother of all cities." It was destroyed by Mongols in 1220, but an account by Marco Polo suggests its former grandeur:

Balkh is a noble city and very large. Formerly it was nobler and larger; it was the most vast and beautqrul city in the region, but the Tartars and other people often ravaged and cruelly damaged it. Because l tell you that formerly there were here a number of beautyful palaces and beauthful houses of marble; and still there are, but destroyed and ruined. And I tell you that in this city King Alexander the Great took as his wife the daughter ty Darius, king of the Persians, according to the people of the city. - THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD, 1298

National Gallery of Art, Washington

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