Editing Peshawar (section)

==== Mauryan empire ====
[[File:Takht-e-bahi.jpg|thumb|The nearby [[Takht-i-Bahi]] monastery was established in 46 CE,<ref name="H. Bivar 1983, p.197">A. D. H. Bivar, "The History of Eastern Iran", in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), ''The Cambridge History of Iran,'' Vol.3 (1), ''The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods,'' London, Cambridge University Press, 1983, p.197.</ref> and was once a major centre of Buddhist learning.]]
Following the [[Seleucid–Mauryan war]], the region was ceded to the [[Mauryan Empire]] in 303 BCE.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} Around 300 BCE, the Greek diplomat and historian [[Megasthenes]] noted that Purushapura was the western terminus of a Mauryan road that connected the city to the empire's capital at ''[[Pataliputra]]'', near the city of [[Patna]] in the modern-day Indian state of [[Bihar]].<ref name="Pandey1963">{{cite book |last1=Pandey |first1=Mithila Sharan |title=The Historical Geography and Topography of Bihar |date=1963 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |page=198 |language=en |quote=Under the Mauryas, when Pataliputra was the capital of the whole empire, a road ran from Tamralipti, which was probably then on or very near the coast, to Purushapura in the north-west.}}</ref><ref name="silk road">{{cite book |last1=Elisseeff |first1=Vadime |title=The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce |date=1998 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-57181-222-3 |pages=175}}</ref>

As Mauryan power declined, the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]] based in modern Afghanistan declared its independence from the Seleucid Empire, and quickly seized ancient Peshawar around 190 BCE.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} The city was then captured by [[Gondophares]], founder of the [[Indo-Parthian Kingdom]]. Gondophares established the nearby ''[[Takht-i-Bahi]]'' monastery in 46 CE.<ref name="H. Bivar 1983, p.197" />