About Alexandria-on-the-Oxus

It is not always easy and often even impossible to match antique cities with modern names and locations and Alexandria-on-the-Oxus or Alexandria Oxiana is one such an example. The city was, as the name says founded by Alexander the Great on the banks of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) in 329 BC.

Since the discovery of Ai-Khanoum in northeastern Afghanistan by Paul Bernard and the French archaeologists in 1964, many scholars believed they had found Alexandria-on-the-Oxus on the confluence of the Kokcha and the Oxus Rivers. At the time of the excavations, France had reached an agreement with the Afghan government, according to which the French were allowed to keep half their finds which were eventually moved to the Musée Guimet in Paris whereas the other half had to remain in Afghanistan together with all the jewelry and the objects made of silver and gold (see: De Kaboul à Samarcande (From Kabul to Samarkand)).

Unfortunately, these archaeological diggings had to be interrupted abruptly when the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979. The Taliban who arrived shortly afterwards, thoroughly plundered and destroyed the precious work done by the DAFA (French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan), both on the site and eventually also at the Museum of Kabul where the treasures had been kept “safe” (see: Putting archaeological sites on the Map of Afghanistan). It seems that all we have left today are the artifacts that were entrusted to the Musée Guimet in Paris but this is the subject for another blog since we are focusing at present on Alexandria-on-the-Oxus.

The first known candidate for this city, Ai-Khanoum, was a large city of approximately 1.5 km2 founded by Alexander but really developed by the Seleucids ruling over that part of the empire after the king’s death. The city thrived for a good five hundred years till the death of King Eucratides, the last king of the Graeco-Bactrian Empire that had blossomed here (see: Bactrian Gold, the Hidden Treasures from the Museum of Kabul). Altogether, a city worthy of Alexander.

Before his arrival, the settlement already knew an irrigation system with a network of canals that was expanded by the new Greek settlers. True to their origins, they built a city where they felt at home and included a large theater with loges, a gymnasium, an agora, many so-called mansions as well as a Heroon dedicated to a certain Kineas considered as being the founder of the city. Ai-Khanoum became a Hellenistic city by excellence with an exceptional “royal” palace erected in a mixture of Greek and Achaemenid styles. It made headlines when inscriptions containing Greek lyric poetry were found together with a precept from the oracle in Delphi.

In later years, this Alexandria changed name several times to become Diodoteia or Diodotopolis, Dionysopolis, Ostobara and eventually Eucratidia after the last Graeco-Bactrian king who expanded the palace complex and even added a treasury. In this treasury, archaeologists found numerous artifacts among which a throne and inlaid plaque from India which led them to believe they were deposited here after Eucratides’ conquest of Taxila and other cities. In and around Ai-Khanoum many large hoards of coins were retrieved most of which were from Greek and Bactrian origin but others were minted in India. In any case, the most recent specimens date to the rule of Eucratides, linking the end of Ai-Khanoum to this king. After the sudden departure of its inhabitants, the city was destroyed by fire. Although the locals returned after their hurried departure, they simply squatted in the remaining storeroom until they were expelled by yet another wave of nomadic attacks. The city was abandoned in 146 BC.

Ai-Khanoum rose from its ashes for a short while when the French started the excavations as mentioned above but was thoroughly destroyed again by modern invaders and treasure hunters – unfortunately.

Recently, another candidate for Alexandria-on-the-Oxus seems to be Kampyr Tepe situated some 30 kilometers from Termez, very close to the place where Alexander crossed the Oxus after his perilous march through the desert in 329 BC. (see: Alexander crossing the Oxus River).Today, this site lies in Uzbekistan and is separated from Afghanistan by the modern Amur Darya River. Kampyr Tepe was discovered in 1979 just before the Soviet tanks rolled into Afghanistan. Soon afterwards, it became a very sensitive and tightly guarded military zone at the border of the two countries until finally excavations were started about two years ago, in 2015, by the renowned archaeologist Edvard Rtveladze.

It certainly makes sense to find an “Alexandria” on this strategic river ford, populated by some of Alexander’s veterans together with Sogdian farmers and nomads. This lower city probably occupied the plains near the river bank and was inevitably destroyed at some point in time by the meandering Oxus River.

The ruins of the upper city can be found on a ridge overlooking the lowlands and appear rather like a citadel surrounded by powerful walls meant to protect the first Macedonian settlers, followed by the later Graeco-Bactrians.

Unlike Ai-Khanoum, Kampyr Tepe lacks the typical Greek buildings like a theater or an agora, but these may have stood in the lower part right on the Oxus. The upper city, in any case has been laid out in a grit plan in which the streets are lined with large comfortable houses for about six hundred families. They were built using dried bricks just like for the city walls – the only construction material available in this desert void of trees. The main city gate leading to the harbor offers a phenomenal view over the plains created by the river, now flowing several miles further south on the very border with Afghanistan.

The most striking find in Kampyr Tepe is the huge amount of dolia, large terracotta pots. This leads scholars to believe that the city had mainly a logistical function. Besides the usual ceramics and sculptures, some unique Bactrian manuscripts have been found as well which amazingly were written on papyrus. The diversity of the finds suggest that different cults and religions coexisted side by side for centuries. Beside the obvious Greek gods, relics of Zoroastrian, Buddhists and several local cults have been discovered mainly as images stamped on coins. The ruins of an imposing Buddhist monastery with Zoroastrian influences proudly stand outside the city walls.

These days, scholars are inclined to link Alexandria Oxiana to Kampyr Tepe rather than to Ai-Khanoum but so far they have found no evidence to substantiate either city.

[Picture of the necklace from The Australian. Picture of Kampyr Tepe from Caravanistan]

De Kaboul à Samarcande. Les archéologues en Asie Centrale by S. Gorshenina and C. Rapin

Under the original title "De Kaboul à Samarcande. Les archéologues en Asie Centrale”(From Kabul to Samarkand) by Svetlana Gorshenina and Claude Rapin (ISBN 9782070761661), this book is being edited by Découvertes Gallimard. It is one of the rare books that treat archaeology in Central Asia in a professional way. It only has the size of a pocketbook but is stuffed with pertaining maps like Alexander’s route and Central Asia set against today’s countries, with plenty of illustrations.

After a short introduction about mainly Russian occupancy of Central Asia going back to the Tsarist era, it appears that finds from Central Asia not only wind up at the Hermitage in St Petersburg and its subsidiary museums but also in newly created museums in Samarkand, Tashkent, Fergana, and Ashkhabad, as well as in countless private collections.

The French who excavated in Afghanistan were allowed to keep half their finds which were eventually moved to the Musée Guimet in Paris, but the oriental museums of Rome and Turin got their share with parts of the reliefs from Gandhara discovered in the Swat area. Strangely enough, most collections from Western European museums have vanished unless they dwell in some lost corner of their basements. Exceptions, however, are the museums in Bern, Copenhagen, Berlin, Helsinki, and Stuttgart. We may remember Ai-Khanoum, once the capital of eastern Bactria at the confluence of the Amu Daria (Oxus) and the Kokcha Rivers that revealed how a Greek city in that part of the world looked like, establishing the relation between the Greeks and the nomads. Also, the role of the philhellenic Parthians is highlighted.

From the sites themselves, especially in Bactria, very few remains have survived simply because the cities were built with mud bricks – examples are Afrasiab, Shahr-i-Sabz, Erkugan, Bactra, and Merv.

Headlines were made with the discovery of the Oxus treasure, composed of golden and bronze objects like statues, vases, bracelets, necklaces, rings, gems, votive plaques with Zoroastrian priests, benefactors, and sacred animals. On top of all that, they found about 1300 coins ranging from the Achaemenid period to Hellenistic, probably from a temple treasury. Another exceptional discovery was the Hellenistic temple of Takht-i-Sangin, with some 800,000 artifacts from its treasury, similar to the finds at Oxus and one of the richest collections of its kind in Central Asia. The hoard counted ex-votos, instruments tied to the cult, portraits of gods and benefactors, and a plaque from the 5th century BC showing a dignitary in Bactrian dress holding a dagger, very much like the procession at Persepolis.

The book also devotes a chapter to religion, starting from early Buddhism during the Kushan Empire (including a handy map) in the first centuries AD with cities like Hadda, Tapa Sardar, Bamyan, Bactra, Dilberdjin, Dalverzine-Tepe, Shahr-i-Nau, Airtam, Adjina-tepe, Karatepe and Fayaz-Tepe, near Termez, and Balalyk-tepe. Matters change dramatically with the arrival of Islam with a high level of cultural and economic renewal.

Another turn-around happened when the Soviet Union occupied Central Asia and when Afghanistan was closed to foreigners. Today, as many of the countries in Central Asia have become independent, a revival of their national inheritance is slowly taking place, while the situation in Afghanistan is still unchanged.

Well, this book shows that there still is a great deal of work to be done on the historical sites themselves and in the larger context of reciprocal exchanges between East and West.

Alexander in Bukhara (Central Asia 10)

[9 - Alexander probably went as far as Bukhara and even Merv in today’s Turkmenistan where he founded his Alexandria-Margiana (it seems no “Alexandria” was ever founded without the king being present)].

After spending the night in Khiva, I once again have to cross the Oxus River but this time over a solid bridge to reach the main road to Bukhara and Samarkand. The view of the river is about the same as before, only from higher up, but still as impressive! No wonder Arrian stated that this is the widest river in Asia after the Indus.

This road is absolutely awful, more like a track in the heart of Africa than the main road. An entirely new road is under construction but the new sections have not been opened to traffic. I have all the time in the world to inspect the red desert sands stretching out in low rolling hills as far as the eye can see. The only greens are meager tiny bushes kept short by the everlasting wind that swept the arid land for eons. My thoughts drift away to Alexander, of course, who had to cross this kind of empty space time and again like he did on his way from Bactra to Termez on the south side of the Oxus River or on his way to the Jaxartes River and the Scythians further to the northeast.

Bukhara, although hardly mentioned in Alexander’s campaigns, certainly must have played an important role. Some say the city was founded by Alexander, but it already existed 4,000 years ago and was used throughout the ages as a crossroad for trade between east and west. We know more of Bukhara as being a meeting point on the famous Silk Road, but that Silk Road only followed older trading routes, which under Persian rule were already heavily used. Other major cities along that trade route included Bactra (Balkh), Alexandria-Ariana (Herat), Alexandria-Margiana (Merv), Maracanda (Samarkand), Termez, Nasaf (Karshi), and Khorezm (Khiva), amazingly enough, all of them within the borders of Bactria and Sogdiana. It is not hard to imagine the caravans with traders, envoys, and travelers treading over these sandy roads. They definitely were adventurous, brave, and strong men. It is quite evident that Alexander used these same roads whenever possible, and he definitely would have appreciated them to their rightful value as economic and military assets.

As to the city of Bukhara proper, I assume that Alexander reinforced the city walls, turning it into a stronghold, as its strategic value would not have been lost on him. Even after his death, this region knew golden times when Seleucos, one of Alexander’s generals and successors, laid the basis for the later Graeco-Bactrian Empire, which in turn led to the Kushan Kingdom. Trade was, throughout the centuries, a most rewarding lifeline in this region.

I don’t expect to find traces of Alexander’s presence in Bukhara, and I don’t. The only location that I can connect to him is the Citadel, whose foundations go back to the 4th century BC. But as houses were built on top of other houses over the centuries, the citadel now stands about twenty meters high, sheltering the city remains of Tamerlane’s time.

But all is not lost, for I find quite unexpectedly my own private Alexander. Walking through the main street of old Bukhara with all the handicraft shops, I stop at a table where an artist is painting what I see as Persian miniatures. Such delicate work, fine drawings, strong colors with bold touches of gold, I engage a conversation with the young man. He explains that these are Uzbek miniatures and not Persian ones, pointing to the typical headdress and decoration of the men’s robes. Well, yes, now I see the difference. In the exhibition rack next to him, my eyes suddenly stop at a familiar picture … Iskander and Roxane, I ask? The artist’s face brightens up, yes, it is indeed! How do you know? I don’t remember where I saw it, in which book or exhibition. In any case, this is the piece. How appropriate to find it here, in the heart of Central Asia, in Roxane’s homeland! Of all places! It is beautiful work, painted on old silk paper, and I’m afraid to ask the price. I can’t resist, of course, and I go home with my precious miniature, and for a moment I’m in the very presence of Alexander and his beautiful bride!

According to Frank Holt (Alexander the Great and Bactria), it is most probable that Alexander went to Merv to found his Alexandria-Margiana, but sources are unclear about when and how. Robin Lane Fox is sending Craterus to Merv instead with a detachment of the army in the spring of 328 BC. David Engels mentions that Alexander founded the city. The problem is that the ancient writers focused on Alexander exclusively, but at times couldn’t single out Alexander’s personal expedition in his complex campaign through Bactria and Sogdiana. Since Ptolemy actively participated in nearly all the skirmishes, pursuits and sieges, and both Arrian and Curtius generally based their story on Ptolemy’s account, they seem to be the most trustworthy historians to follow, although modern writers have tried in vain to straighten out history. Pierre Briant is his recent book Alexander the Great and his Empire, situates Margiana a few miles east of the Derbent’s Iron Gates, but the confusion may still be greater than expected since Leonid Sverchkov (Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia) is looking for two distinct cities, Margania as named by Curtius and Margiana as referred to by Pliny. Good luck!

After Bukhara, I’m once again on the main road to Samarkand, i.e., the old Silk Road. It is common knowledge that this road was dotted with stopping places where merchants and travelers could spend the night, finding forage for the animals and accommodations for themselves. Every 30-40 kilometers or so, there was a caravanserai offering the weary traveler a place to spend the night, to trade his goods, or maybe to enjoy the comforts of a hamam. In fact, it is a system copied from the glory days of the Persian Empire, and I am convinced that whenever possible or available, Alexander followed these same roads, making use of the same facilities. So, when I stop at the 11th-century caravanserai of Baboti Malik, I have no difficulty picturing what such a station must have looked like in his days.

The place is rather isolated, more in the middle of nowhere than alongside a major route. This caravanserai is in a pretty poor state; only the façade has been re-erected, while all the other outer and inner walls are only reconstructed to approximately one meter high. Still, it gives a good overview of the layout, although I have in mind the well-preserved building of Kervansaray in central Turkey, especially because of the central octagonal base of what once was the top lantern, which impressed me immensely. But here it is the location rather than the caravanserai itself that strikes me, for it is easy to imagine what a safe-haven such a place must have been to the traveler through these hostile lands.

On the other side of the road is the ever-needed water reservoir, the Sardova from the 14th century – an impressive vaulted construction that shelters the water from dust and pollution while offering a clean spot to drink and to water the animals. To me, it is obvious that this entire construction stands over an old well that has been used over the centuries by local sheep and cattle herders, as well as by the merchants on this busy east-west road. It gives a clear image of the welcome stops Alexander may have encountered during his many desert crossings.

Click here to read Episode 11 of Central Asia
Click here to see all the pictures of Bukhara

Alexander Crossing the Oxus River (Central Asia 3)

[2 - Alexander crossed the Oxus River (today’s Amu Darya) on his way to Samarkand, probably around Termez, although the exact location is still being debated (see Donald Engels “Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army” and Robin Lane Fox in “Alexander the Great” as opposed to the latest discoveries made by E.V. Rtveladze]

I am in for more surprises than I could have suspected when the next day, I am taken on a drive north out of Khiva. The bus stops on the south bank of the Oxus River (Amu Darya), where a series of abandoned boats spans the river. Only passenger cars are allowed on these pontoons and pedestrians like me, of course. What an unexpected bonus this is!

When Alexander reached the Oxus in June 329 BC after his perilous march through the desert, he found that Bessus had burnt the bridge behind him. My crossing point, although similar, is much further downstream than Alexander’s, which is generally accepted to have taken place near or shortly below Termez, just opposite today’s border with Afghanistan. As we know, Alexander was not at all discouraged by this setback of the burnt bridge, and he certainly was not short of creative ideas. He made his army swim across the Danube during the first year of his kingship, and so he did here, ordering his men to sew their leather tents into bags that could be stuffed with anything that would float. Five days later, the entire army and all the horses had safely landed on the opposite riverbank. An exploit by itself, I think, as I purposely tramp over the shiny metal sheets of the decks, fully taking in the view over the fast-flowing river and picturing Alexander giving directions and shouting orders from the sandy banks. What an experience! I sniff up the air as if to catch a lost remnant from those heroic days. The last part of the pontoon is dispersed, and the road leads through the swept-up dunes of some sandbanks that touch the mainland. Crystal-clear water mirrors the rare reeds of the quiet pools, and in the distance, away from the ever-eroding currents, I notice some bushes and trees. Once I’ve reached firm ground, I can’t help looking back over the shimmering river. So wide, so peaceful, so inviting, and so life-giving. So, this is what the mighty Oxus River looks like! I feel this must be the absolute climax of my entire trip, although I have barely started!

It also occurs to me that in Alexander’s days, the river must have been much wider. We are told by ancient sources that the Oxus was six stadia wide, approximately 1,100 meters, and too deep to wade through. I have no idea how to measure the width of the river here, but I know that nowadays most of the water goes to irrigation, especially for growing cotton. In the Soviet era, this crop was highly developed and, in my eyes, even overdeveloped, drawing so heavily on the water supply from the faraway Hindu Kush that the river no longer empties into the Aral Sea, which in turn is drying up. This is a story by itself that goes back to the last century, when countries like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan were mere provinces of the USSR that tried to give each one of them a fair share of the river. When these provinces became independent states after the fall of the Soviet Union twenty years ago, they found themselves stuck with these frontiers that run rather randomly, with mutual enclaves creating what I call a jigsaw puzzle. None of the countries is inclined to concede terrain to its neighbor, and attempts to exchange certain parcels of land against others to create more consistent borders are not materializing. Meanwhile, the Soviets have taken their cotton machines with them, and the Uzbeks, not willing or not able to revert to other crops, simply continue to grow this water-consuming cotton and pick it by hand.

[Click here to read Episode 4 of  Central Asia

Alexander in Bactria and Sogdiana (Central Asia 1)

Getting ready for a tour of Uzbekistan, my thoughts inevitably turn to Alexander the Great, for this is the territory of Bactria and Sogdiana, where he spent nearly three years of his life – almost one-third of his time in Asia. That tells a great deal about the difficulties he encountered in this part of the world. Alexander's kingship lasted twelve years, of which the first two years were needed to settle the affairs in Macedonia and Greece before crossing over to Asia. This means that he conquered the mighty Persian Empire and most of the then-known world in only ten years. Consequently, the three years he spent in Central Asia are highly important in his Asian campaign.

We generally follow Alexander out of Greece, skirting the coast of today's Turkey and facing the Persian armies at the Granicus, at Issus, and finally at Gaugamela. After that, most fights seem only to be skirmishes, but I now find out that the truth is very different. In fact, I'm amazed to learn how much has happened from 330 BC to 327 BC. Those years alone are worth a lifetime experience – that is, to any ruler but Alexander the Great, of course. 

To make things easy, I situate Uzbekistan north of Afghanistan, which is well-known through the news media, but for the sake of good order, additional logistical information is required. To the southwest of Uzbekistan, we find Turkmenistan, to the north Kazakhstan, and in the east Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, both entwined with Uzbekistan like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. These borders are pretty well drawn, but that was not always the case, and definitely not in Alexander’s time. Bactria then was at the far end of the known world, where nobody “civilized” wanted to go, and where nobody really knew where it started or where it ended. Even a meticulous geographer like Strabo got confused between Bactria and Sogdiana on many occasions.

But to me, this is Alexander country all the same, and I am determined to find out as much as I can. Not an easy task, even with the help of Arrian and Curtius, who managed to give contradictory accounts using Bactria and Sogdiana randomly. As it turns out, modern historians are no more successful in their endeavors. Rivers are not exact frontiers but seem rather to bring the desert peoples together, and the same goes for mountains, where passes serve to commute between different peoples instead of separating them. In the end, I find that the analytical approach of David Engels in his “Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army” makes the most sense. Pending new discoveries, new excavations, and new theories, this is what I’ll go by.

To begin with, we have a significant number of facts and names about Alexander’s whereabouts in that remote region, but matching them with modern locations is a huge task that is still ongoing. Based mostly on Arrian’s “Anabasis” and Curtius’ ”History of Alexander,” who both used Ptolemy’s account since he participated in the campaign, I do have a series of useful facts and figures:

1. Alexander marched his army from Bactra (Balkh in today’s Afghanistan) with heavy losses through the Karakum Desert to reach the Oxus River in pursuit of traitor Bessus, who proclaimed himself king after killing the Persian Great King Darius III.

2. Alexander crossed the Oxus River (today’s Amu Darya) on his way to Samarkand, probably around Termez, although the exact location is still being debated (see David Engels “Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonia Army” and Robin Lane Fox in “Alexander the Great” as opposed to the latest discoveries made by E.V. Rtveladze)

3. Although it was Ptolemy who is said to have ridden to Nautaca to collect Bessus, taken prisoner by local warlords in late June 329 BC, Alexander also crossed the Pamir Mountains between Samarkand and modern Shahr-i-Sabz, as Nautaca is called now.

4. On the way, there is an encounter with the Branchidae, emigrants from Milete, whom Alexander massacred because of treason.

5. Alexander moved to the end of the Persian Empire on the Jaxartes River (modern Syr Darya) through the Iron Gates (the only road east out of Maracanda), over Jizzak and Uratube.

6. In July 329 BC, Alexander was building his Alexandria-the-Furthermost, modern Khodjend in Tajikistan, while taking seven Sogdian cities, including Cyropolis. Alexander was seriously wounded.

7. In early autumn of 329 BC, Alexander marched to Maracanda in three days and nights to see Spitamenes vanish in thin air. He re-crossed the Oxus to winter in Bactra. Arrival of reinforcements from Macedonia.

8. In the Spring of 328 BC, Alexander split up his army into five sections for a clean-up operation. Hephaistion sweeps the Panj River Valley, Ptolemy the Vaksh River, Perdiccas the Karfernigan, Coenus the Surkhan, and Alexander marches to Maracanda, where his generals will join him afterwards.

9. Until August 328 BC, Alexander is busy subduing the Sogdians once again. In mopping up the Polytimetus Valley (today’s Zeravshan River), Alexander probably went as far as Bukhara and even Merv in today’s Turkmenistan, where he founded his Alexandria Margiana (it seems no “Alexandria” was ever founded without the king being present).

10. In Autumn 328 BC, the head of Spitamenes is brought to Alexander. The army is being divided between Bactra (Balkh), Nautaca, and Maracanda (Samarkand) because Spitamenes had destroyed the winter provisions in Bactra. Alexander spent the winter of 328/327 BC in Maracanda-Afrasiab. Murder of Cleitos.

11. Early 327 BC Alexander attacks the Sogdian Rocks of Ariamazes and Sisimithres (= Chorienes). Arrian and Curtius disagree on the location and on the chronology.

12. Maybe the most important event is Alexander’s marriage to the beautiful Roxane, daughter of a local Bactrian warlord.

Plenty of history to track down, and I’m confident that my imagination will do the rest. After all, since no writer, neither from antiquity nor from modern times, has managed to sift out facts from fiction, I feel entitled to draw my own conclusions based on what I’m going to see – why not?

For those who are not entirely familiar with history at this stage of Alexander’s campaign, let me place it briefly into context.

It all started when the Great King Darius fled from the Battlefield of Gaugamela and Alexander set in pursuit from Ecbatana in mid-July 330 BC, covering a rough 645 km in only eleven days in spite of the summer heat – an exploit on its own. It was, however, the Bactrian ruler Bessus who captured Darius and left him more dead than alive, alongside the road to die just before Alexander caught up with him. Bessus, feeling strong and powerful by his deeds, didn’t hesitate to proclaim himself King of Persia under the name of Artaxerxes V. This meant that Alexander, although he had been victorious at Gaugamela, still had to eliminate Bessus/Artaxerxes if he wanted to be the true King of Persia.

Before winter made the high passes of the Hindu Kush impassable, Bessus crossed the mountains north into Bactria, using the policy of scorched earth in an attempt to make it impossible for Alexander to follow him. But evidently, he underestimated Alexander's determination and stubbornness!

With his 32,000-strong army, Alexander led the way, not along the shortest route across the Hindu Kush as Bessus had expected, but over the 3,550-meter-high Khawak Pass, the longest but lowest pass that provided the best chances for forage. In spite of this practical choice, he and his army had to march through snow drifts and biting winds, suffering from snow blindness, altitude sickness, and chronic fatigue, and it took them 17 days to cover the 47 miles. It is not difficult to picture everybody’s relief when they finally reached the green, fertile valleys of Bactria and made camp in Bactra (Balkh in today’s Afghanistan), where they found plenty of provisions. Because of his scorched earth policy, Bessus had all the food and forage stored within the city walls – a true bonus for Alexander as the city opened its gates to him!

After his men enjoyed a well-deserved rest, Alexander moved north towards the Oxus River in late June 329 BC, still on Bessus' trail. Instead of frostbites and bitter cold, he now was stumbling through an inhospitable and waterless desert, the Karakum. This is about where I pick up Alexander’s trail…

Click here to read Episode 2 of Central Asia