Balkh
Balkh (باختر, Bākhtr) is an ancient city in northern Afghanistan, located on the Balkh River about 24 km northwest of Mazar-i-Sharif. Known to the Greeks as Bactra and to the Persians as Zariaspa, it has been called "the mother of all cities" — a claim resting on more than three thousand years of continuous habitation.[1][2]
Ancient and classical periods
The earliest settlement at Balkh dates to the Early Iron Age (c. 1500–1000 BC), found at the Bala Hissar citadel. Under the Achaemenid Empire (c. 540–330 BC) it was a satrapal capital listed on Darius the Great's tomb inscription. Alexander the Great captured the city in 330 BC and married Roxana of Bactria there.[1][3]
Balkh then became the capital of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (3rd–2nd century BC), was ruled by the Indo-Scythians and Kushans, and served as a major centre of Zoroastrianism — tradition holds that Zoroaster died within its walls.[1][2]
Buddhist crossroads
When the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang visited in 630 CE, he reported around 100 Buddhist convents and 3,000 monks in and around Balkh. The monastery of Nava Vihara was the most remarkable. The monks Trapusa and Bahalika, said to be among the Buddha's first disciples, were from Balkh.[1][3]
Islamic conquest and golden age
Arab forces reached Balkh in 645 CE, but Buddhist rule held until 715 CE when Qutayba ibn Muslim brought the city firmly under Umayyad control. Under the Abbasids and later the Samanids, Balkh became the capital of Khorasan and a centre of learning. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and the poet Ferdowsi were born there. Marco Polo described it as "a noble city and a great seat of learning."[1][2]
Destruction and modern ruins
Genghis Khan destroyed Balkh completely in 1220. Timur rebuilt it in the fifteenth century, and it was captured by Dost Muhammad Khan in 1850, incorporating it into the Emirate of Afghanistan. Today the site is mostly ruined, with notable remains including the Bala Hissar citadel, the Green Mosque (Khwaja Abu Nasr Parsa shrine, c. 1460), and the Haji Piyada mosque — the earliest known Islamic monument in Afghanistan, dating to the ninth century. Balkh is on Afghanistan's UNESCO tentative list.[1][2]