Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

part iv | migrations of cultures
nomads. Many scholars associate the foundation of the city at the site of Old Termez
with the names of Alexander and Antiochus. W. Tarn believed that the city was the site
of Alexandria on the Oxus, mentioned by Ptolemy, which was destroyed by nomads
in around 293 BC, and then rebuilt by Antiochus I who named it Antiochia Tarmita.
However, according to P. Bernard, Antiochia Tarmita was built because of an active
policy of urbanisation pursued by Antiochus I between 293 and 281 BC.
Excavations carried out in recent years at the citadel of Old Termez revealed
habitation layers 2.5 m thick with architectural remains and a variety of finds dating
back to the 3rd–2nd centuries BC. In addition, more than 40 Seleucid and Graeco-
Bactrian coins, starting with those of Seleucus I and Antiochus I and ending with
Heliocles coins, were found in Old Termez in different years.
These finds confirm the existence of a significant settlement on the site of Old
Termez in the 3rd–2nd centuries BC and make a strong case for considering Tarn’s
hypothesis that this was the location of Antiochia Tarmita. Yet another hypothesis put
forward by the author of this book is that Alexandria Oxiana was located at the site
of Kampyrtepa, though the site has been insufficiently investigated by archaeologists
for evidence of the Hellenistic period.
Another city set up by the Greeks in Central Asia was Alexandria Eschate which
is identified by scholars as Khodjent.
These are the three cities originally called Alexandria and supposedly founded by
Alexander the Great but there is archaeological evidence to suggest that settlements
at the sites of Ancient Merv, Termez and Khodjent, with which the three cities are
associated, were in fact established in the first half or middle of the 1st millennium BC,
i.e., long before the arrival of the Greeks.
Archaeological expeditions in Central Asia and adjoining areas in the 1930s–80s
made some unique discoveries. The most interesting of them are the sites of Ai-
Khanum, Takht-i Sangin, New Nisa, Old Nisa and Kampyrtepa. In the second half of
the 2nd century BC, the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom succumbed to the attacks of the
Saka and Yuezhi tribes, and more than a century later, the vast Kushan Kingdom was
established here.
Although many decades had passed since Greek rule in Bactria, and the Greeks
themselves had apparently ‘melted’ into the local population, Hellenistic culture
continued to play a significant role in material, artistic and spiritual life. Hellenic gods
such as Heracles, Hephaestus, Dionysus and Athena were highly revered. They were
included in the official pantheon of Kushan deities, and their images were reproduced
on the reverse of Kushan coins and in sculpture. The Bactrian script based on the
Greek alphabet remained in use. Hellenistic traditions lived on in the visual arts,
in sculpture and monumental mural painting, and in other ways too. Studies at the
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