Editing History of Afghanistan (section)

=== Alexander the Great and the Seleucids ===
{{main|Indian campaign of Alexander the Great|Cophen campaign}}

[[File:AlexanderConquestsInIndia.jpg|thumb|Alexander the Great's Empire in South Asia.]]
[[File:Begram Alexander.jpg|thumb|220x220px|[[Bronze]] statuette of Alexander the Great from [[Alexandria in the Caucasus|Bagram]], Afghanistan.]]
[[Alexander the Great]] invaded the area of modern Afghanistan in 330 BCE after defeating [[Darius III of Persia]] a year earlier at the [[Battle of Gaugamela]].<ref name="Achaemenid">{{cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+af0003) |title=Achaemenid Rule, ca. 550-331 B.C |access-date=16 August 2010 |publisher=Library of Congress Country Studies on Afghanistan |location=United States|year=1997}}</ref> His army faced strong resistance in the region's ancient tribal areas where Alexander is supposedly said to have commented that the land is "easy to march into, but difficult to march out of".<ref name="Cal-history">{{cite web |date=30 June 2002 |title=The Afghans – Their History and Culture |url=http://www.cal.org/co/afghan/ahist.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100317123355/http://www.cal.org/CO/afghan/ahist.html |archive-date=17 March 2010 |access-date=16 August 2010 |work=Dr. Barbara Robson and Dr. Juliene G. Lipson. Dr. Robson |publisher=[[Center for Applied Linguistics]] (CAL) |location=United States}}</ref> He first conquered Bactria in northern Afghanistan between 329–327 BCE,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crabben |first=Jan van der |title=Bactria |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Bactria/ |access-date=5 December 2024 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref> and married [[Roxana of Bactria]]. He then conducted the [[Cophen campaign]] to the south near the Kabul valley, where his army fought against the [[Aśvaka|Aspasioi]] and Assakenoi peoples.<ref>Panjab Past and Present, pp 9–10; also see: History of Porus, pp 12, 38, Buddha Parkash</ref><ref>Proceedings, 1965, p 39, by Punjabi University. Dept. of Punjab Historical Studies – History.</ref> Although his expedition through Afghanistan was brief, Alexander left behind a Greek cultural influence that lasted several centuries. He founded and built many cities in the region, all named "Alexandria", including: [[Alexandria Ariana]] (modern-day [[Herat]]); [[Alexandria Arachosia]] (modern [[Kandahar]]); [[Alexandria in the Caucasus]] (near [[Bagram]]); and finally, [[Alexandria Eschate]] (near [[Khujand]]), in the far north. After Alexander's death, his loosely connected Macedonian empire was divided. [[Seleucus I Nicator|Seleucus]], a [[Ancient Macedonians|Macedonian]] officer during Alexander's campaign, declared himself ruler of his own [[Seleucid Empire]], which also included present-day Afghanistan.<ref>Dupree, Louis: ''Afghanistan (1973)'', pp. 276–283</ref> The Hellenistic city of [[Ai-Khanoum]] was later founded in northern Afghanistan, likely by the Seleucid ruler [[Antiochus I Soter|Antiochus]], the son of Seleucus in about 280 BCE.<ref>Martinez-Sève, Laurianne (2014). "The Spatial Organization of Ai Khanoum, a Greek City in Afghanistan". American Journal of Archaeology. 118 (2): 267–283.</ref>