Artacoana^[1][2] (Ancient Greek:Ἀρτακόανα) orArtacana^[3] orArticaudna^[4] (Ἀρτίκαυδνα) orChortacana^[5] orArtacaena,^[6] name of the capital ofAria, an easternsatrapy of thePersian empire.

In late 330 B.C.Alexander the Great, according to his biographers, captured Artacoana, the Areian capital.^[7] Later, a new capital was built, either by Alexander himself or by his successors, Alexandria Ariana (Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ ἐν Ἀρίοις), modernHerat in northwestAfghanistan. Ptolemy lists several other cities, an indication of the province's wealth and fertility. The most important, according to Ptolemy were:^[8][9]

The etymology of this name remains unknown, and whether this place should be identified with the modern city ofHerat is also uncertain, although the strategic position of modern Herat would suggest its great antiquity; and thus the possibility remains that they are one and the same place. In the early nineteenth century a PersianAchaemenid cuneiform cylinder seal was found in or near Herat.^[10]

• Aria
• Herat

• History of Herat
• Historiography of Afghanistan

• Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text