Ay Khanoum was probably originally named 'Alexandria', like so many other cities founded in the Hellenistic era and was settled by Alexander's men.
It had strong defences and a great Hellenistic palace with rows of columns. The palace stood on the site of an earlier Persian palace. A temple and gymnasium have also been excavated, and inscriptions written in Greek have been found.
Part of a large foot found in the temple suggests the religious cult of a ruler. A silver disk also found shows a Hellenized goddess. The Eastern priest shown at the fire-altar is no doubt a Zoroastrian, while the god in the sky is Greek in influence. This blend of eastern and western religious ideas is typical of the Hellenistic era.
Ay Khanoum is located on the Oxus river near the Afghan border. It is the only purely Hellenistic city which has been excavated in Afghanistan to date. Although Alexander the Great himself never came this far north-east, the city was founded due to his influence.
It was located near the only lapis lazuli mines in the known world and the function of the city seems to have been to tax or control the extraction of lapis lazuli.
Ay Khanoum was abandoned after it fell to the nomadic peoples who overwhelmed Greek Bactria around 200 BC.
