Old Kandahar
Old Kandahar (Pashto: Zorr Shaar; Dari: Shahr-i Kohna) lies approximately four kilometres west of modern Kandahar on the Qaitul ridge, overlooking the Arghandab–Tarnak alluvial plain. For over two thousand years it was the administrative centre of Arachosia — a city that bridged Persian, Hellenistic, Indian, and Islamic civilisations before its destruction in 1738.[1][2]
Ancient history
The site was occupied from the Iron Age (c. 1000–750 BCE), serving as a fortified outpost of the Achaemenid Empire's Arachosia satrapy from the sixth century BCE. Alexander the Great founded Alexandria Arachosia on the existing Achaemenid fortress in 330–329 BCE, populating it with Macedonian veterans, local recruits, and mercenaries. The name "Kandahar" is popularly derived from "Iskandar," the local form of "Alexander," though alternative etymologies link it to ancient Gandhara.[1][3]
After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, the city passed to the Seleucids, then the Mauryan Empire. Emperor Ashoka's bilingual Greek-Aramaic rock inscription — among the westernmost evidence of Mauryan reach — was found at the site. The city then reverted to Greco-Bactrian control, followed by Indo-Scythians, Kushans, and Sassanids.[1][2]
Medieval period
Arab armies brought Islam in the seventh and eighth centuries. Under the Saffarids (861–977), Samanids, Ghaznavids, and Ghurids, the city functioned as a regional administrative and commercial hub. The Mongol invasions of the 1220s under Genghis Khan inflicted widespread devastation. Under the Timurids, Ibn Battuta described it in 1333 as "a large and prosperous town."[1][2]
Nader Shah's destruction
In 1709, Mirwais Hotak overthrew Safavid rule and made Kandahar the capital of the Hotaki dynasty. His brother Shah Hussain Hotak held the city when Nader Shah besieged it beginning in April 1737. The siege lasted over a year, involving mining operations, heavy cannon fire, and encircling trenches. The Hotaki surrender came on 24 March 1738.[1][4]
Nader Shah's troops then sacked Old Kandahar, systematically demolishing the citadel and razing much of the urban fabric. The surviving population — estimated at tens of thousands — was forcibly relocated to Naderabad, a new settlement approximately three kilometres east of the ruins. The ancient site was effectively abandoned, serving thereafter only as a quarry for building materials.[1][4]
Archaeological remains
The site features a massive packed-clay citadel on the Qaitul ridge, surrounded by eroding mud-brick fortifications. British excavations (1974–1978) by the British Institute of Afghan Studies under Svend Helms uncovered stratified deposits spanning Iron Age through Islamic periods, including Hellenistic pottery, coinage, and architectural remnants overlying Achaemenid structures.[1][5]
Key epigraphic finds include the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription (Greek-Aramaic, from Ashoka's time), the Kandahar Greek Edicts of Ashoka, and the Sophytos Inscription. The site remains threatened by looting, conflict, and urban expansion.[1][5]
Legacy
The 1738 destruction ended the ancient site. Ahmad Shah Durrani founded the modern city nearby in the 1740s, making it the capital of the Durrani Empire — precursor to modern Afghanistan. Old Kandahar represents a critical testament to the layered imperial histories of Central Asia.[1][2]