Charsada

A site in Pakistan which was the capital of the Achaemenid satrapy of Gandhara. There is a series of mounds, up to 20 meters high, concealing the caravan city of Pushkalavati with occupation from the 6th century BC to the 2nd or 1st century BC. Excavations near the largest mound, Bala Hisar, identified the defenses overrun by Alexander the Great in 327 BC, a rampart and ditch. A separate mound nearby, Shaikhan, was an Indo-Greek city of the second century BC.

This site on the plain of Peshawar, at the foot of the Khyber Pass in Pakistan, is a series of mounds, up to 20 metres high, concealing the caravan city of Pushkalavati [Peukolaotis], one of the capitals of Gandhara. Occupation extended from the 6th century bc, when the Achaemenians occupied Gandhara, to the 2nd or 1st century BC. A rampart and ditch at the foot of the largest mound, the Bala Hisar, are identified as defences against Alexander the Great, who took the town in 327 bc. Not far from the Bala Hisar, in an area known as Shaikhan, aerial photography revealed the rectilinear street-plan of an Indo-Greek city of the last two centuries bc.