ALEXANDRIA ON THE CAUCASUS

Alexandria on the Caucasus (Greek: Αλεξάνδρεια στον Καύκασο, modern Bagram) was a colony of Alexander the Great, and one of the many cities named after him. Alexander founded the colony at an important junction in the southern foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains, in the country of the Paropamisadae.

In Classical times, the Hindu Kush mountains were also called the "Caucasus"in parallel to their Western equivalent, the Caucasus Mountains between Europe and Asia.

In March of 329 BCE,Alexander settled 7,000 Macedonians in the city; Curtius talks about 3,000 mercenaries and thousands of natives, whereas Diodorus mentions 7,000 natives, 3,000 non-military camp followers and a number of Greek mercenaries. He had also built forts in what is now Bagram, Afghanistan, at the foot of the Hindu Kush, replacing the ones built by the Persian King Cyrus in 500 BCE. Alexander essentialy refounded a previous settlement and reshaped it into a Greek colony.
The patron God of the city was Zeus, as suggested by coins of the Greco-Bactrian king Eucratides.

The horsemen on the right -hand side of the coin are Dioskouri, the sons of Zeus.

Some archaeological evidence concerning Alexandria of the Caucasus was gathered by Charles Masson (1800–1853). His findings included coins, rings, seals and other small objects.While doing excavations near Bagram in the 1930s ,Roman Ghirshman found Egyptian and Syrian glassware, bronze statuettes, bowls, the Begram ivories and other objects, including statues. These discoveries attest to the fact that Alexander's conquests essentialy opened India to import trading activities from the West.

Plaster medallion of a helmeted young man, which was found during the excavations in Alexandria on the Caucasus.

Alexandria of the Caucasus was one of the capitals of the Indo-Greek kings (180 BCE- 10 CE ).During the reign of Menander I, the city had a thriving Buddhist community, led by Greek monks. The epic Sri Lankan poem Mahavamsa mentions the Greek (Pali: Yona, lit: "Ionian") Buddhist monk Mahadhammarakkhita (Sanskrit: Mahadharmaraksita), who is said to have come from “Alasandra” (thought to be Alexandria of the Caucasus), with 30,000 monks for the foundation ceremony of the Maha Thupa at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka:

"From Alasanda the city of the Yonas came the thera (elder) Yona Mahadhammarakkhita with thirty thousand bhikkhus."

Today, the city's remains feature a rectangular tell 500x 200 metres, and a nearby circular citadel about 3km northeast of Bagram Airforce base.

SOURCE:Wikipedia