Ancient City of Ai-Khanoum: History and Excavation

The city was founded by an early ruler of the Seleucid Empire.

The city served as a military and economic centre for the rulers of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom until its destruction c. 145 BC.

The ruins of the city were excavated by a French team of archaeologists until the onset of conflict in Afghanistan in the late 1970s.

Hellenistic culture in the region would persist longer only in the Indo-Greek kingdoms.

The onset of the Soviet-Afghan War in the late 1970s halted scholarly progress, and during the following conflicts in Afghanistan, the site was extensively looted.

After the Seleucid–Mauryan war, Seleucus ceded the Indus Valley to Chandragupta Maurya, in return for a pact of friendship and 500 war elephants; he thus sought the sustained economic and military development of Bactria, which was now the headquarters of the Seleucids in the East.

Under his successor Antiochus II, who came to the throne in 261 BC, the mint continued to strike valuable coins, and the ramparts were bolstered with a buttress and brick linings.

The city's development was greatly slowed when Diodotus I, governor of the eastern provinces, seceded from the Seleucids and founded the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom.

Although Ai-Khanoum's temple and sanctuary were reconstructed under Diodotus, possibly to enhance religious legitimacy, most Seleucid construction programmes were not continued.

Bertille Lyonnet theorizes that during this time Ai-Khanoum was merely "a military stronghold with administrative functions".

Ai-Khanoum was an ancient city in what is now Afghanistan

The city was abandoned by its inhabitants in the 2nd century AD

In 1961, the city was rediscovered by the King of Afghanistan and the French Archaeological Delegation

The excavation was led by Daniel Schlumberger and then by Paul Bernard

The excavation revealed that the city was abandoned in the 2nd century AD and that its inhabitants were probably Saka tribes

The excavation also revealed that the city was once a major center of Hellenistic culture

The abandonment of the city was probably due to invasions by Saka tribes and a fire

The city of Ai-Khanoum was founded on the southwest corner of a triangular plain in the region of Bactria.

The plain was naturally suitable for agriculture and the city was built near the banks of the Oxus and Kokcha rivers.

The city was strategically important and its founders built it to a high defensive standard.

There were mines on the upper Kokcha in Badakshan which were the only sources of lapis lazuli in the world.

The city was protected by a natural acropolis, a small citadel, and cliffs on two sides.

Eastward approaches to the city were protected by a natural acropolis.