Skip to content
Curated category

Populated places along the Silk Road

  • CtesiphonMithridates I of Parthia established a military camp across from Seleucia in the late 120s BC. This small outpost grew into Ctesiphon, a city that would…
  • AlmatyOn the 4th of February 1854, Russian engineers began constructing a wooden palisade called Fort Zailiyskoe between the Bolshaya and Malenkaya Almatinka…
  • KabulKabul has existed for over 3,500 years. The Rigveda and Avesta texts refer to the Kabul River and a settlement called Kubha between 2000 BC and 1500 BC.
  • HeratThe district of Aria, known today as Herat, first appeared in royal inscriptions from the Achaemenid Empire between 550 and 330 BC.
  • GhazniIn 329 BCE, the city now known as Ghazni fell to Alexander the Great and was renamed Alexandria in Opiana. This strategic location on a plateau at…
  • BaghdadOn the 30th of July 762, Caliph Al-Mansur commissioned the construction of a new city to serve as the capital of his Abbasid Empire.
  • AntiochSeleucus I Nicator chose a spot near the Orontes River on the 22nd day of Artemísios in his twelfth year, which equals May 300 BC.
  • SamarkandHuman activity in the region of Samarkand dates back to the late Paleolithic Era. Archaeological excavations conducted within the city limits and suburban…
  • AndijanArchaeologists have uncovered artifacts in Andijan dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries B.C.E. These items prove the city is one of the oldest in the…
  • AlexandriaAlexander the Great arrived at the western edge of the Nile River Delta in April 331 BC to establish a new city. He chose the site of an ancient Egyptian…
  • IstanbulGreek colonists from Megara established Byzantium on the Sarayburnu promontory around 657 BCE. These settlers built an acropolis adjacent to the Golden Horn…
  • ConstantinopleOn the 11th of May 330, Emperor Constantine the Great stood before a crowd of tens of thousands to dedicate his new capital.
  • SeleuciaSeleucia emerged from the ashes of Babylon around 305 BC when Seleucus I Nicator ordered a massive population transfer. He forced almost all inhabitants of…