What do we associate Afghanistan with? Often with war, poverty and drugs. But this country is fraught with many mysteries. It turns out that in ancient times she experienced a Hellenistic influence. It was expressed not simply in trade with the Greeks or Macedonians, but in the construction of a city called Ay-Khanum.
It was discovered by chance and even a little curious. It was in 1964 during the reign of the Afghan king Zahir Shah. He was a great lover of antiquities. He once hunted in this region. The route specially passed through the territory on which there were stone columns. The organizers of the hunt, knowing about the king's hobby, assumed that he would be interested in ruins of unknown origin. And they were not mistaken. Zahir Shah reported the ancient ruins to archaeologist Daniel Schlumberger, who was then in Afghanistan.
Schlumberger, and then archaeologist Paul Bernard, began excavations here. When they reported that they had discovered a Hellenistic city in Afghanistan, it made a big impression on the scientific community. The fact is that already by the beginning of the twentieth century, scientists guessed that Afghanistan experienced Hellenistic influence in antiquity. The proof of which was the Greek coins. However, they did not allow speaking about the more or less significant influence of the Hellenistic culture in this region. And then the whole city was discovered …
Mosaic floor in the Ai-Khanum palace.
It is assumed that Ai-Khanum began to settle during the reign of Seleucus Nikator (an associate of Alexander the Great) at the turn of the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC e. The settlement ceased to exist quite quickly - already in the second half of the II century BC. e., due to the attacks of the nomads. The city was located in a relatively isolated region. They could not defend it for a long time.
Archaeologists have unearthed a whole complex of objects testifying that Greeks lived here: heroon (sanctuary), theater, palace complex, acropolis, temples. After these findings, even skeptics were convinced that Greeks lived in Afghanistan. Indeed, before that there was even the term "Bactrian mirage" (Bactria was the name of the historical region, part of which was located in Afghanistan). Scientists, having no solid evidence of significant Hellenistic influence in the region, spoke of the emergence of a kind of "mirage". It was assumed that the coins could be made by visiting Greek masters. Other experts, on the other hand, said that the region was poorly studied. That is why there is no evidence of Hellenistic influence. The dispute ended only after the discovery of Ai-Khanum.
Ai-Khanum's gold disc.
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Alas, the city again faced a sad fate. When the war began in Afghanistan, it is clear that there was no talk of any archaeological excavations. The object was left unguarded. The inhabitants of this region decided that treasures were hidden here. They started looking for them, digging holes in different places, and damaging the cultural monument. Nobody ever found the treasure.
Scientists have to wait until the situation in Afghanistan becomes stable. Surely there is still a lot of work for archaeologists here. Perhaps in the future more than one Greek city will be opened. In the meantime, it remains only to guess whether Ai-Khanum was the only Greek settlement in this region or not.