Arachosia

Arachosia

Ancient province, eastern Persian empire. The province encompassed much of what is now southern Afghanistan in the area of the city of Kandahar. It was conquered by Alexander the Great c. 330 BC.

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Arachosia 

(ancient Iranian, Harahvati), an ancient region in the basin of the Arghandab, Arghastan, and Ghazni rivers, with its center in the area of present-day Kandahar, Afghanistan. It was first mentioned in the Behistun inscriptions. It was known in the Younger Avesta.

According to data of several ancient authors, Arachosia extended as far as the Indus. It was part of the kingdoms of the Achaemenids, Alexander of Macedonia, the Maurya dynasty, the Kushans, and others. Some Greek, Saka, and Parthian dynasties founded independent possessions in Arachosia and minted their own money, which was released in the major cities of Arachosia—Alexandria-Arachosia and Alexandropolis. Arachosia is mentioned as “Arohajj” by some early Arabic authors. Arachosia, or its parts, corresponds to the country of Camboge, which is known from ancient Indian sources (in southeastern Afghanistan).

REFERENCE

Grantovskii, E. A. “Iz istorii vostochnoiranskikh piemen na grani-tsakh Indii.” In the collection Kratkie soobshcheniia in-ta naro-dov Azii, no. 61. Moscow, 1963. (Bibliography.)

E. A. GRANTOVSKII