The Ancients - Ai Khanum: A Greek City in Afghanistan?

Episode Date: October 14, 2021

A theatre, a gymnasium and houses with colonnaded courtyards: these are the hallmarks of an Ancient Greek city. So what are they doing in the city of Ai Khanum, far east of their origins in present day Afghanistan? In this first part of Tristan’s chat with Milinda Hoo, she takes us through the structures found in this ancient city, and what they tell us about the infrastructure and origins of Ai Khanum. Milinda is a global and ancient historian at the University of Freiberg, specialized in globalization and Hellenism across Central and West Asia.Listen out for part two, where Milinda challenges whether this can really be seen as a Greek city.

Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes, and if you would like The Ancients ad-free, get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit. With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary all about Petra and the Nabataeans, and enjoy a new release every week. Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe. by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe. It's The Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host.

And in today's podcast, while we are going back to Central Asia, we're going back to Afghanistan, to ancient eastern Batria, to talk all about a settlement that, in my opinion, sits among the most remarkable settlements from anywhere in the ancient world, up there with the likes of Nan Madol, Pompeii, Tikal and others. And this is the ancient city of Ihanoum or Ihanoum. The city reached its heights during the Hellenistic period when the Greco-Bactrian kingdom ruled over this part of Central Asia. Now to talk through what we know about Ihanoum, looking at its history,

the archaeology that has been done at the site, as well as looking at Ihanoum through the lens of globalisation in the ancient world, and whether we can label this settlement a Greek city in Afghanistan, I was delighted to be joined by Melinda Hu from the University of Freiburg. Now Melinda and I were chatting for well over an hour so we're going to divide this episode into two and the second part will be released in due course. But without further ado here's Melinda. Melinda thank you so much for taking the time to come on the podcast today yeah thanks so much for having me you are very welcome indeed i have been waiting a long time to do a podcast on this topic i am super super super excited i hanum melinda maybe it's just my

opinion i wonder if it's yours as well but But this has to be one of, if not the most extraordinary site, ancient site from Central Asia. It's such a remarkable case study. some kind of exotic example of Hellenism. And it's really because of this presence of Greek culture or Greek features so far away from Greece itself or from the Mediterranean itself that the site became so popular, so to speak, both in academic literature as well as more mainstream literature in the public. Absolutely has. And we'll delve into that very soon.

But of course, first of all, let's set the scene. Let's get the background of whereabouts we're talking. Bactria. First of all, Melinda, what is Bactria? So Bactria is an ancient land, which was located in what we now call Central Asia. It covered parts of northern Afghanistan, southern Tajikistan and southern Uzbekistan. And of course, the actual borders or the precise borders of ancient Bektu cannot be traced in the same way that we have modern borders now. Of course, ancient borders work very differently than modern borders. But very roughly speaking, ancient Bektu can be located north of the Hindukush Mountains.

So starting from Kabul in Afghanistan and kind of stretching up north until somewhere between the Amudaya and the Serafshan rivers. So kind of in an area between Tajikistan and southern Uzbekistan. And this was a place in antiquity, if we look at the historic records, it was renowned for its great wealth, wasn't it, Melinda? Yes, absolutely. So this ancient land was very much characterised by its mountains. And because of these mountains, there was also a steady water supply. And so this mountainous region was very much dotted with fertile oases. And there was also a wealth of natural resources from mines, there was a lot of gold resources and the Badakhshan mountains in antiquity were one of the biggest sources of lapis lazuli

in the ancient world and so it was also wasn't it this place which was even down into the Hellenistic period by the time we get to the Hellenistic period and the time of Ihanum, you've seen several different superpowers in this area of the ancient world. Yes, absolutely. And Hellenistic Bactria, of course, has a very deeper history. And this deeper history really has to be traced to pre-Hellenistic times. And we start with Bactria as part of the Agamemnon Empire. So around the 530s BC, Bactria becomes incorporated in the Agamemnon Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great. And it functions as a satrapy. So a satrapy is an administrational unit with quite a lot of local autonomy within the Agamemnon

Empire. And actually quite recent research has indeed shown that Bactria was really an integral part of the Aegean Empire. So it was definitely not an isolated part of the world. And as such, it was a satrapy of the Aegean Empire for two centuries before Alexander the Great came to this region. And of course, we know from Alexander the Great, he conquered the Persian Empire. And with it, he also conquered the Cetropaea of Bactria. And with this conquest of Alexander the Great came also a lot of mobility. Well, it was really combined with mobility and settlement of soldiers in his army that he left behind as garrisons.

of soldiers in his army that he left behind as garrisons. Plutarch tells us, for instance, that he founds several cities and he brings civilization to these regions. But of course, we have to contextualize that a little bit. Alexander the Great was only in the region for two years, from 329 until 327. And actually, the moment that he leaves the region, very shortly after, we hear of a revolt taking place. And this revolt is initiated by Greek mercenaries. So actually, part of his army revolts against being there, basically, because Alexander the Great already left the region towards India. And we hear about this revolt taking place very, very fast afterwards. Then the historical sources are kind of quiet about what exactly happens next. But after Alexander the Great, we see the emergence of the so-called Seleucid Kingdom. So his successors in the East

named after Seleucus I, one of his generals. And we see that the Seleucid kings, they kind of tried to reclaim these Central Asian lands. They tried to reclaim Bactria in several waves. And so we see, for instance, Seleucus I, he goes into this region around about 305 BCE. But in the historical sources, this chapter of Seleucus I is not very present because he kind of skipped this whole region to focus on Seleucus' presence in India. So in India, he strikes an alliance with Chandragutta Maurya, and there he receives 500 war elephants, with which he gains his biggest victory back in the West in the Battle of Ipsus. And so Bactria in this episode is very much skipped.

We don't really know the details. We don't really know to what extent was actually very firmly incorporated. And actually, in the larger lines of history, firm grip on this region never seemed to be too strong. So we see in 250 BC, we see another revolt happening in Bactria. And this revolt now happens at the hand of a Greek governor, a Greek satrap that was ruling these Bactrian lands in name of the Seleucid kings. And we hear of a so-called revolt. Of course, there's scholarly discussion whether we can actually call this a revolt

and whether this event actually turned out to be an event of independence, a claim for independence. But in any case, around 250 BCE, Diodotus, so the former satrap of Bactria, he starts to mint coins in his own name. And this is the moment that we conventionally call the beginning of the so-called Greco-Bactrian kingdom or the Greek kingdom

of Bactria. And so we don't really know a lot about the precise history of these Greek kingdoms in Bactria. We know from the literary sources, we know six names of Greco-Bactrian kings, but the coinage that they left behind, they record or they document many, many more kings in these regions. And so most of the history of the Greek kingdoms of Bactria, and later also India, they really stem mostly from coins and very superficial references in the literary sources. And so we've got the emergence of this Greco-Bactrian kingdom. When do we think the settlement of Ihanum emerges in regards to this new kingdom? Yes, the history of Ihanum is very much bound with these historical episodes of so-called Greek presence in Bactria. And actually, the very early history of Aichinom is very much unknown.

It may have well been that Alexander crossed this region. He may have left a garrison in the region. There was a Gammonid fortress very nearby on the plain of Aichinom. It may well have been that Alexander crossed that fortress, crossed the region as well. But it is definitely sure that the actual foundation or the emergence of the settlement at Aichenum that this dated to Alexander the Great. Actually, more recent research now has turned out that the settlement probably like the

earliest beginnings of Aichinom probably dated to an early Seleucid king perhaps Seleucid I but more probably Antiochus I his son and this is also quite relevant because Antiochus I he was half Bactrian so his mother was a Bactrian woman or an Iranian woman that Seleucus his father married in the so-called weddings at Susa in 324 BC. And so the earliest beginnings kind of start in this Seleucid episode of the region. But of course, a foundation of the city, of course, a city doesn't just pop up out of nowhere. And this is also what we see at Ichenum. Ichenum really develops as a city throughout time in different stages. So we have perhaps the first beginnings

of the city kind of develops under the early Seleucid kings, but its actual development, flourishment into a city only starts at the onset of the so-called Graco-Bactrian kings. at the onset of the so-called Graco-Bactrian kings. So there are coins of Diodotus, they were found at the settlement, and only during the reign of another Graco-Bactrian king, so-called Ithidemos, we see that the city actually starts to take the actual shape of a city. But we also have to contextualize this a little bit more, because most of the city of Aichnum is actually known from its most recent layers. And its most recent layers kind of date

to a very large building program that took place in the early 2nd century BC. So actually quite almost when the so-called settlement was already in existence for almost a full century. And this building program can be dated to another Greco-Bactrian king, so-called Eucratius or Eucratius the Great. He's also described in our sources as a great man. And from coins, we know that he had a very long reign. So we see from coins that he starts to age. So he starts from a very young man and then from later coinage with the same name. You kind of see these realistic changes in his facial features, his facial portraits on the coins.

So this Eucratides is the king that we have to attribute the final form of Aichinou. Now, Eucratides, if I remember him correctly, I'm going on a slight tangent here, Melinda, so forgive me for this, but if memory serves me right from the sources, wasn't he the king who has a really sticky end, according to one source, which involves his son and a chariot? Yes, absolutely. So we hear indeed from Justin. Justin is probably one of the most important sources on the Graco-Bactrian kings. We hear from Justin, and Justin is a Roman author from the 1st or 2nd century Common Era, so AD, very late on, so after the actual fall of the Greek kingdoms. But Justin, his so-called epitone

or summary of Pompeius Trogus, he tells us indeed that this Eucratius, he's a very great man and he goes on campaigns. He actually conquers quite a lot of territory. He even crosses the Hindu Kush, goes into Indian territory. And when he comes back, he indeed gets killed off by his son and his son drives a chariot through his blood and doesn't give the body of his father proper burial. And so this is really described also by Justin as a kind of treatment that you wouldn't expect from family, but rather that was set aside for enemies. That is so nasty, literally so nasty. If we then go back to Ihanum, because before we go into the archaeology itself, I mean, we kind of need to set the scene of where in Bactria we're talking about with this settlement.

I mean, describe the landscape of Ihanum to us, please, Melinda. Yes, Ihanum is located in what we call Eastern Bactria. It was the biggest or actually the only monumental city that was excavated in Eastern Bactria. The other important city was in Western Bactria, the so-called mother of all cities, Bechtra near our modern Balch. But Eichenum is really the biggest city in eastern Bechtra and it was kind of located in a very strategic location. So it was located at the confluence of two rivers. So it was protected also on two sides by two rivers. And on the other side, it was protected by this kind of natural, steep acropolis. Well, they call it an acropolis, but it's of course just a very steep hill that could have very defensive advantages. And so it was on three sides. It was very protected by natural features in the landscape.

Then from the north, there was a huge agricultural plain. This was also settled and cultivated since the Bronze Age. So they found quite a lot of complex irrigation canals that dated back to the Bronze Age, even up to the third millennium BC. And this incredibly large plain, of course, also had a lot of advantages, agricultural advantages. It also gave access to a lot of communication roads, trade routes. And so it was on a very strategic location that enjoyed not only natural protection, but also quite a lot of access to resources, to the mines in the mountains, and also to trade routes.

So here we see kind of hints at the economy of Aichunum that was facilitated not only by trade, but also by agricultural exploitation of its hinterland, as well as exploitation of the natural resources in the neighbourhood. Hello, if you're enjoying this podcast, then I know you're going to be fascinated by the new episodes of the history hit warfare podcast. From the polionic battles and Cold War confrontations to the Normandy landings and 9-11, we reveal new perspectives on how war has shaped and changed our modern world. I'm your host, James Rogers, and each week, twice a week, I team up with fellow historians, military veterans, journalists, and experts from around the world to bring you inspiring leaders. If the crossroads had fallen, then what Napoleon would have achieved is he would have severed the communications

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wars or it wants to have nothing at all to do with it. And in relation to a country like Afghanistan, both approaches are catastrophic. Join us on the History Hit Warfare podcast, where we're on the front line of military history. so melinda as an overview not only is it in this really strong economic and military position but from what you were also saying before it sounds like at its height it could have been the royal nucleus the capital of this kingdom yes absolutely and this is quite interesting because we don't know its ancient name. So we do know the name of Bactria, the city in western Bactria, but the name, the ancient name of Aichinom is not known from ancient sources. So it was definitely a royal settlement. It was

definitely had some royal allure. This is not only reflected in the monumentality of the structures at Aichenum, but also by the presence of a huge administrational complex that was interpreted as a palace. So this definitely had some very important status, royal important status, perhaps already in Seleucid times, but definitely for the Greco-Bactrian kings. That is really, really interesting indeed. Now, of course, at the moment in that part of the world, it's probably quite difficult to go and do archaeological work on sites there. But archaeological work at Ihanum, has there been some work done at the site? I'm presuming there has been during the 20th century. Yes, absolutely. So Ihanum is actually one of the very few sites that received very extensive excavation for a period of 15 years.

And this extensive excavation really is the monumental work of the French excavators. And it starts in the 1960s. So the site of Aichinom was actually discovered in 1961. It was not discovered by the French, but it was discovered by the Afghan King Mohammed Zahir Shah. He was on a hunting party. And then one of the locals showed him a fragment that hinted that there was something there. And so the king informed the French delegation, the French archaeological delegation at Afghanistan, which was then directed or headed by Daniel Schlumberger. And Daniel Schlumberger, he first began to survey the site of Aichenoom in 1964.

So they already found some hints that there must have been a very prominent site here. And from 1965 until 1978, Paul Bernard takes over the direction of the DAFA, the French Archaeological Delegation at Afghanistan, and he starts the excavation of Ihanoum for an extended period of 15 years. And after that period of 15 years, let's talk about the results of this archaeological work, this extensive archaeological work that was done. What did it reveal about the urban landscape of Ijhenum? Yeah, so the urban landscape of Ijhenum, we didn't really call it urban landscape, more like the site itself and its development into an urban settlement, I would say, because not the whole landscape was urbanized. This also kind of depends on how you define

urbanization, of course. course but Iconum itself what they discovered were monumental structures the site was divided into an upper city and a lower city the upper city was located on the so-called Acropolis that I just talked about but this was not very densely occupied so they found the, the structures of an open air podium and some small habitations. But most of the structures, most of the monumental structures, they were located in the lower city. And so the lower city was so lined along the river and it was very essentially, it was not built on the so-called hippodamian grid plan. So this is very often highlighted that it was not a Hippodamian grid city, which was often a ground plan that was laid out for Hellenistic foundations.

So the lower city, the Aicheneu, was not laid out on a Hippodamian grid plan. Instead, the lower city was kind of lined along a main street. That was a main street that ran from north to south. In the north, you enter the city through the city walls and the city gates. And then along the main street, there were several districts, so to speak. And I think I have to mention from the outset that we don't really know the earliest history of Aichnum. and much of the urban image of Aichnum dates really to the early 2nd century BC. And so in the excavated form, so to speak, so in the latest form of Aichnum, there was indeed, so to speak, Greek theater, there was a gymnasium. These were

the features that were most often quoted, or most often highlighted from from Eichenum. But there was also a very large administrational complex, so-called palace. There was a main sanctuary, a huge main sanctuary with a main temple. There was a mausoleum outside the city. There was another temple. There were also quite large villas found or mansions, very rich houses of the elites they were found. Yeah, so it's a proper city, so to speak. It's a proper city. We see a lot of imperial investment.

Of course, this city of such a scale needs to be funded. It needs to be financed. And there is most certainly some royal decision behind this. Absolutely. So you mentioned there lots of buildings, but the Greek theatre and the gymnasia, first of all, Melinda, really interesting that those buildings were discovered. But there are some unusual features, unusual traits about these buildings, weren't there? Yes, I think the most interesting part of the theater and the gymnasium is that they actually date to the very last phase of the city. So they, for most of the city's existence, so at least for a hundred years, the city was without a theater and it was without a gymnasium. And so this is something

quite important. Then secondly, very interesting is that these buildings, both the theater and the gymnasium, they were built from local mud bricks. So they weren't built from stone. This, of course, also might have had a practical reason because stone wasn't very much available in the region. So these buildings were made from local mud brick. Both of these buildings were incredibly large. So they had enormous dimensions and much more than actually lived in the city. So the theater, for instance, they had space for 6,000 spectators. These enormous dimensions also

makes you think who actually visited the theater, what kind of functions did it have, etc. So these are only things that we can speculate or theorize about. And one of the extraordinary features of this theater was also that there were these logias, these honorary seats that were dotted along them, where the audience were. And this maybe indicates a more hierarchical structure of society. So these seats were probably meant for elite members of society, or perhaps even the kings. We don't know, but it kind of is an indication of a more hierarchical structure of the society and this has of course been compared to greek theaters that were really structures of democracy a more equal society so to speak and then the gymnasium

the gymnasium is of course also cited much as one of these buildings that's really quintessentially Greek. And the presence of this building would kind of indicate a strong presence of Greek people. But the gymnasium was also just like the theater, had some kind of unusual features. Indeed, instead of kind of a column gallery around the grand courtyard, there was a narrow closed-off corridor. And so these closed-off corridors, we see this also in all the buildings of Aichenoe. We see this, for instance, also in the palace, in the enormous administrational complex, so to speak. And we see this also in the houses. So there is quite a distinct presence of these narrow corridors that kind of regulate access and movement within the space of the buildings. So where you mentioned there the palace,

the central complex and the narrow corridors there. So just explain to us there for Milindum a bit more about that, about the layout of this next monumental building, the central complex. What do we know about its layout and the archaeology that has been found within? Yeah, so first of all, the palatial complex or the administrational complex that has been identified as a palace was enormous. It's really colossal and it really covers quite a lot of the lower city. And it might even be that there was actually a palatial district, which also included the gymnasium and the mausoleum and the sanctuary.

These are all possibilities. But the palatial complex, the administrational complex, is a huge building. It had two courtyards. It also had a hypostyle hall, so kind of an apadana, what we see also in Persian palaces. Apadana is this hall with a forest of columns. So when you kind of enter this hall as a visitor, you would be incredibly impressed by the grandeur and monumentality of this building. And this huge administrative complex was a complex. It has different sections that may have had different functions. And so

it had this modular structure that was indeed regulated by these corridors that I've already talked about. And these various sections of this complex were probably meant for reception areas to have audiences, but there were also two residential sections found with bathrooms, but there were also two residential sections found with bathrooms with mosaic on the floors. Bathrooms? Yes, bathrooms. So there is an indication of bathing practices. There was also a treasury with this typical storage layout that we also find in the Iranian world. And perhaps even a section that may have served as a library because of the literary fragments that we

have found there. And Melinda, these literary fragments, there seem to be particularly some really special ones that have been discovered. Yes, absolutely. So in one of the rooms of the treasury, there were literary fragments of a philosophical treatise, kind of a platonic dialogue. And there was also a fragment of a theater play. So these two fragments, they do indicate the performance of theater plays, perhaps in the theater of Eichenum. But definitely it does indicate that this particular space where they were found might have functioned as a library.

And this palace, actually, in terms of architecture, this palace has been really categorized as a mixture between Eastern or Oriental architecture and Greek architecture. So the layouts, the architectural layout, has been compared with the palaces that we found in Persia. But then again, we also have these smaller architectural decorations, such as Corinthian column capitals, that mixes all in this very hybrid, so to speak, architecture of the palace. And this hybrid architecture, Melinda, you mentioned those literary fragments as well.

From what is written on those literary fragments, does it also seem that it's quite a hybrid system too? Yes. So there are actually indeed within the administration complex, there were some inscriptions found and inscriptions found on vase fragments. And these were Greek inscriptions that kind of related to the administration here at Aichinom. So they kind of recorded what was in the vases, what kind of products were in the vases. We hear of certain payments that have been done, countings that have been done. And they also

record the names of the persons that were working here. And these names, they have been recognized as Greek names, but also Iranian names such as Ariandes, but also quite local names such as Oxuboakes. Oxuboakes kind of refers to the Oxus River. So it's really a local name. And this kind of may indicate the people that have been working here, which was, of course, not only a Greek administration, but kind of a variety of people that were working for the administration of the Graeco-Bactrian kings. Well, there you go.

So moving away, therefore, from this hub, from this palatial centre of I Hanum, you've mentioned it already, the housing at I Hanum. Melinda, what do we know about the housing at this site? Yes, the architecture is actually quite local or has been seen as quite Central Asian in its layout. These houses were also made of local mud brick, and they kind of have the same layout as the residential sections in the palace. And so this is really a layout that has been formed from a kind of an Iranian or Central Asian model. There is an open courtyard that was oriented towards north.

And then behind that courtyard, there was this model structure of corridors, again, that regulated the access and movement between different spaces of the houses. And these houses or these mansions, the ones in the palace, at least they had bathrooms and there were kitchens. But of course, these were not the only kinds of houses. So these houses that have been discussed are very rich. You can imagine that they have been inhabited by more elitist members of society. There were also more modest houses, habitations in the north and the south of the sanctuary, for instance, in the lower strata of the gymnasium and also the Acropolis. These have been kind of either partially excavated or they're only known from aerial photography.

And from what you were saying there, Melinda, like their style, their design, it's quite different. It's quite Iranian or Mesopotamian or that sort of the world we're talking. Yes. So the layout of the housing was more in line with the Iranian or Central Asian model. And we kind of see also comparisons. Most of these comparisons date just a little bit later than Aichinom's building program. We see similar housing structures or similar layouts of structures that have been identified as houses, domestic structures in the so-called palatial structure at Sarsanagor, which was

also in Bektra, Diyarbakir and Davos in Tepe, which all date to the second century or first century BC. So maybe a little bit later than Aikino, but definitely kind of in the same regional architectural tradition. Yeah, absolutely. Some nice other examples there from the same part of the world. Thank you so much for taking the time to come on today no problem Thank you.