Curated category
Ancient history of Afghanistan
- Gandharan BuddhismGandharan Buddhism shaped the spiritual landscape of Asia for fifteen centuries, flourishing in a corner of the world where empires collided and trade routes…
- Indo-Greek KingdomThe Indo-Greek Kingdom was a political world that should not have existed. Greek-speaking kings ruling from cities like Taxila and Sagala, in the heart of…
- Greco-BuddhismGreco-Buddhism refers to the cultural fusion of Hellenistic Greek and Buddhist traditions in Gandhara. That fusion took shape between the 4th century BC and…
- Indo-Scythian KingdomThe Indo-Scythian Kingdom began with horsemen. Nomadic peoples of Iranic Scythian origin, they rode out of Central Asia and into the Indian subcontinent…
- Parthian EmpireThe Parthian Empire lasted from 247 BC to 224 AD, spanning nearly five centuries and stretching at its greatest reach from the Euphrates river in what is now…
- Sasanian EmpireThe Sasanian Empire declared itself, in its own words, the "Empire of the Iranians." That title first appeared in the trilingual Great Inscription of Shapur…
- Maurya EmpireThe Maurya Empire rose from the plains of Magadha around 320 BCE, and within a generation it had become the largest political entity the Indian subcontinent…
- AshokaAshoka ruled one of the largest empires the Indian subcontinent had ever seen, then nearly vanished from memory. For centuries his name survived mostly in…
- Kushan EmpireThe Kushan Empire sat, for a time, at the absolute center of the ancient world. Historian Alain Daniélou put it plainly: "for a time, the Kushana Empire was…
- Silk RoadThe Silk Road was never a road, and for much of its life it had no name at all. It was a network of Asian trade routes, active from the second century BCE…