Curated playlist
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 converged. The region of Gandhara, centered on what is now the Peshawar Valley…
- 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 the Indian subcontinent, striking coins that carried both the Greek alphabet and…
- 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 the 5th century AD, in territory now spanning Pakistan and north-east Afghanistan.…
- 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 across a span that lasted from the middle of the second century BCE to the fourth…
- 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 central-eastern Turkey all the way to present-day Afghanistan and western…
- 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 I, where the king announced: "I am the lord of the Empire of the Iranians." It was…
- 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 had ever seen. At its height under Ashoka, its roads stretched from the mountains…
- 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 Buddhist legends. His own words sat in plain view, carved into rock and stone…
- 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 the centerpoint of the major civilizations." From roughly 30 CE to 375 CE, a…
- 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 until the mid-15th century, spanning over 6400 km on land. Marco Polo traveled it…