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Where in the world
Afghanistan
Ai-Khanoum
Hellenistic · Afghanistan
Field notes
- civilizations
- Hellenistic
- types
- City
- occupied
- 280 BCE — 145 BCE
- country
- Afghanistan
The site
Ai-Khanoum is a Hellenistic city in Takhar Province, Afghanistan, likely founded by an early Seleucid ruler and serving as a military and economic hub for the Greco-Bactrian kingdom until its destruction around 145 BCE. Set at the confluence of the Amu Darya and Kokcha rivers, it was split between a lower town and a 60-metre acropolis. Rediscovered in 1961, it was excavated by French archaeologists until conflict halted the work in the late 1970s.
