MY FINAL ESSAY (INCOMPLETE)

2012-05-09T03:10:00.000-07:00

BY: ATAL MIAKHELL

In 1961, King Mohammad Zahir Shah of Afghanistan announced to

the world that he had stumbled up on the lost city of Ai Khanoum, also known as Alexandria on the Oxus, while hunting. Many historians believe Ai Khanoum, which means "Lady Moon" in Uzbek, was founded by Hephaestion, the senior commander of the Companions and closest friend of Alexander the Great, during the campaigns in Bactria and Sogdia in 329 BCE to 327 BCE. Ai Khanoum is considered one of the most important Cities of the ancient world because of its strategic location and its influence on central-eastern diversity, society and culture.

Alexandria on the Oxus is Located in the province of Kunduz, Afghanistan. The city was built right where the Oxus River, stretching east to west, was intersected by the river Kokcha, streaming all the way down south through Pakistan and India. The reason for settling here was that the rivers provided them with clean water and protected them against invaders. This location not only possessed very rich soil for agriculture, but the nearby Hindu Kush Mountains were also abundant in many minerals, gold and rare and rubies such as lapis lazuli, found nowhere else in the world. Ai Khanoum was also located along the central meeting point between east, west, north and south on the historic trade route known as the Silk Road.

Excavations of the ancient city started in 1964 with help from Russia and the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (DAFA) under the supervision of its director archaeologist Paul Bernard. The dig unearthed two mile long ramparts circling the city and a citadel with powerful towers on top of a 60 meter high hill in the middle of the city. Among the greatest finds were a classical theater with a diameter of 84 meters containing 35 rows that could comfortably seat 4000 to 6000 people, a gymnasium resembling the most typical Greek-like monuments, with engraved pillars dedicated to Greek gods and heroes such as Hermes and Heracles, and a huge ‘one of a kind’ Greco-Bactrian palace built by fusing Greek and Persian architecture. The archeologists also discovered a Macedonian style mosaic of the sun, acanthus leaves and various animals such as dolphins and crabs. There were findings of many temples in and outside the city dedicated to worshipping different gods, but the largest temple was found within the city, which at one point, contained a unique large statue of Zeus modelled in a Zoroastrian style with massive walls inclosing the god instead of being circled by columns as evident in Greek structures.

Ai Khanoum, Alexandria on the Oxus

MY FINAL ESSAY (INCOMPLETE)