Taxila
Taxila is an archaeological site, located in the Punjab province of Pakistan, west of the Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi, on the border of the Punjab and North West Frontier Province and just off the Grand Trunk Road. Its coordinates are 33.76 N, 72.84 E.
Taxila (then called taksh-shila) was an ancient Buddhist seat of learning, connected across the Khunjerab pass to the Silk Road, attracting students from all over the world. It was also called Takshashila in Sanskrit in ancient India. It flourished during the first-fifth centuries AD (see Gandhara). Located at the junction of three major trade routes, it was of considerable economic and strategic importance.
- Alexander the Great conquered Taxila in 326 BC and garrisoned the town with Macedonians, but Greek rule ended again in 317 BC.
- The Punjab then came under the rule of Chandragupta Maurya and his successors, including his grandson Asoka.
- Soon after Asoka's death, Taxila was conquered by the Bactrian Greeks who established a Greek city at the site of Sirkap, and ruled it until about 90 BC.
- Next came the Scythians (c. 90 B.C.), the Parthians (c. 19 AD) and the Kushans (c. 78 AD) whose empire was eventually crushed by the White Huns (c. 460).
The British archaeologist Sir John Marshall conducted excavations over a period of twenty years in Taxila (see Sir John Marshall, A Guide to Taxila, Department of Archaeology in Pakistan, Sani Communications, Karachi, 1960).
Taxila has been listed by the UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites.