Ai Khanoum
37.16666666666769.408333333333Koordinaten: 37 ° 10 '0 "N, 69 ° 24' 30" E
Ai and Ai Khanum Khanoum also Ay Xanum, composed of the Turanian word for Ay moon as a symbol of beauty and the word ( خانم Persian; actually means lady of the house with moon face) in Uzbek (Persian آی خانم literally means moon lady meant the beautiful princess ) - is an archaeological site in the province of Takhar in the north- east of Afghanistan. It is to date the only, large areas examined remains of a Greco- Bactrian city. The place was about 145 BC almost completely destroyed by the invasion of the Yuezhi. As he was leaving and then later not resettled, he is particularly well preserved in the ground. The city was excavated 1964-1978 by a French team led by Paul Bernard. There were also sporadic Soviet excavations.
The city
Ai Khanoum whose ancient name is disputed, was probably founded shortly after Alexander the Great. There are suspicions that it could be either known from ancient sources Alexandria on the Oxus and to the later Eukratidia. The city was about 2 km × 1.5 km in size, is located on the Oxus, and is bounded on the east by a high mountain, on which the largely unexplored upper town. This mountain offers the place natural protection. Other parts of the city have been defended by mighty ramparts. Outside the walls there was a suburb and the necropolis.
In the city there was a Greek theater and a gymnasium. A large palace united Greek with Persian style elements. So the palace had a huge courtyard with colonnades on a Greek model. Likewise, the architectural decoration is purely Greek with Corinthian capitals and Ante Fixen with palmettes. A banquet hall with 18 columns (3 × 6) seems, however, more likely to have met achämenidischem taste. Also many column bases are designed rather Persian. There was a Heroon, in which a certain Kineas was buried, who was revered as the founder of the city. There were several temples are uncovered, none of the temple, however, is in the Greek style, which in turn has strong local traditions. All the buildings stand out for their generous proportions.
In a palace and a residential building in the south of the city, the foundations were uncovered from centrally located temple premises with handling corridor. Such handling temples were also found in other Greek -Bactrian cities in northern Afghanistan. Here is one of the roots of this concept, a different origin are Achaemenid fire temples. This is valid as a starting point for the temple of Surkh Kotal kuschanischen fire, this is the basic form of the first Buddhist temple and the later Hindu temple.
Among the finds are numerous purely Greek capitals and statues, which were mostly decorated in tone due to the lack of stone. For some of them only a few details have been modeled in marble. There were numerous coins, none of which dated later than Eukratides I. and remains of papyri with previously unknown philosophical texts.
For a long time the culture of the Bactrian Greeks were known only by their coinage. The discovery of this city confirmed the image obtained from the coins. The Greco- Bactrian art was largely Greek, even if there were strong local and Persian influences, especially in architecture, but also in the local ceramic production.
The end of the city
The end of the city can be dated to the period around 145 BC. There were nomads from the north-east, probably Sakas, who plundered the town and especially the palace, and there set fire. The Greek inhabitants were probably fled before. Shortly thereafter, attracted locals in the city, who had previously lived outside the earthworks. The houses were after all Precious, which had left the last inhabitants, searched, and the palace was razed to the Erdboben. A short time later, however, came again attacker, this time probably the Yuezhi and plundered the city again. The site remained uninhabited from now on; only on the citadel there was still a settlement to the Middle Ages.
Finds from Ai Khanoum
Antefixes
Bust a herm
Relief with men image
Other view of the relief
Gargoyle
Henkel a bronze ware
Metal relief with image of Cybele