This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Alexandria in the Caucasus" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Alexandria in the Caucasus

Αλεξάνδρεια
Menander I coin
Shown within Afghanistan
Location	Afghanistan
Region	Parwan Province
Coordinates	34°59′45″N69°18′39″E / 34.99583°N 69.31083°E /34.99583; 69.31083
Type	Settlement
History
Builder	Alexander the Great

Alexandria in the Caucasus (Ancient Greek:ἈλεξάνδρειαAlexándreia; medievalKapisa, modernBagram) was a colony ofAlexander the Great. It was one of many colonies designated with the name "Alexandria". He founded thecolony at an important junction of communications in the southern foothills of theHindu Kush mountains, in the country of theParopamisadae.^[1]

In Classical times, the Hindu Kush mountains were also designated as the "Caucasus", specifically as "Caucasus Indicus" (Ancient Greek: Καύκασος Ινδικός)^[2][3] in parallel to their Western equivalent, theCaucasus Mountains betweenEurope andAsia.

Alexander populated the city with 7,000Macedonians, 3,000 mercenaries and thousands of natives (according to Curtius VII.3.23), or some 7,000 natives and 3,000 non-military camp followers and a number of Greek mercenaries (Diodorus, XVII.83.2), in March 329 BC. He had also built forts in what is nowBagram,Afghanistan, at the foot of the Hindu Kush, replacingforts erected in much the same place byPersia'skingCyrus the Great c. 500 BC, Alexandria being in fact a refoundation of an Achaemenid settlement called Kapisa.^[3]

Thedeity of the city seems to have beenZeus, as suggested bycoins of theGreco-Bactrian kingEucratides.^[4]

Alexandria of the Caucasus was one of the capitals of theIndo-Greek kings (180 BC – AD 10).^[4] For example, it was ruled by the kingHermaeus who is particularly associated with the city.

During the reign ofMenander I the city was recorded as having a thrivingBuddhist community, headed byGreekmonks. The epic Sri Lankan poemMahāvaṃsa mentions the Greek (Pali:Yona, lit: "Ionian") Buddhist monkMahadhammarakkhita (Sanskrit:Mahadharmaraksita), who is said to have come from “Alasandra” (thought to be Alexandria of the Caucasus), with 30,000 monks for the foundation ceremony of theMaha Thupa atAnuradhapura inSri Lanka:

From Alasanda the city of the Yonas came the thera (elder)Yona Mahadhammarakkhita with thirty thousandbhikkhus.^[5]

Somearchaeological evidence concerning Alexandria of the Caucasus was gathered byCharles Masson (1800–1853), providing insight into the history of that lost city.^[6] His findings includecoins, rings, seals and other small objects. In the 1930sRoman Ghirshman, while conducting excavations nearBagram, foundEgyptian andSyrian glassware, bronze statuettes, bowls, theBegram ivories and other objects includingstatues.^[7] This is an indication that Alexander's conquests openedIndia to imports fromthe west.

Today the cities' remains feature a rectangulartell 500 by 200 metres in area and a nearby circularcitadel about 3km northeast ofBagram Airforce base. The tell lies beside the main road north and has been slightly damaged due to shelling duringAfghan War of the 21st century.

• 
  Begram medallion showing a young man wearing achlamys; c. 1st century AD.
• 
  Begram medallion depicting a Greek soldier wearing aCorinthian helmet; c. 1st century AD.
• 
  Bronze statuette of Alexander the Great, from Begram.
• 
  Aphrodite sculpture from Begram, c. 1st century AD, Plaster,National Museum of Afghanistan.
• 
  Bronze statuette ofHarpocrates from Begram, 1-2nd century AD. Musée Guimet, Paris.
• 
  Begram medallion withEros and Psyche; c. 1st century AD.
• 
  Begram medallion, c. 1st century AD.

• Edmund Richardson:Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021).ISBN 978-1526603784

• List of cities founded by Alexander the Great

• Media related toAlexandria in the Caucasus at Wikimedia Commons

• 329 BC
• Seleucid colonies
• Populated places established in the 4th century BC
• Cities founded by Alexander the Great
• Bactrian and Indian Hellenistic period
• Former populated places in Afghanistan
• Cities in Central Asia
• Hellenistic sites in Afghanistan
• Tells (archaeology)
• 320s BC establishments

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from September 2007
• All articles needing additional references
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text
• Articles containing Sanskrit-language text
• Commons category link is on Wikidata