Afghanistan's oldest city, Balkh

(or what's left of it)

Balkh was the scene of Persia’s last stand against the Greeks, with the Bactrian ruler Bessus claiming the Achaemenid crown from the fleeing Darius, only to be killed in turn by Alexander in 329. Alexander’s men were horrified by Balkh – Zoroastrian beliefs forbade burial or cremation to avoid polluting the earth, so the Greeks took control of a city roaming with packs of ‘devourer dogs’ who disposed of the recent dead. Balkh served as the forward base for Alexander’s Central Asian campaigns, and it was here that he married Roxane, adding Afghan blood to the royal lineage, as well as declaring his own divinity.

After Alexander, Balkh was the centre of a succession of Graeco-Bactrian dynasties who held sway over the region until falling to the nomadic Kushans. Balkh prospered as a way station on the new Silk Road, with its people turning to Buddhism.

 

On the way to Balkh

(a fairly old and largely destroyed mosque)

 

A very old and important gravesite in front of the old mosque

 

The Ruins of Balkh

 

 

One of the old city gates. The great size of the ancient city can be appreciated here, as well as the enormous size of the walls

 

A shrine next to a small mosque by the wall of Balkh

 

 

Afghanistan's oldest Mosque, Haji Piyada

The Haji Piyada Mosque was built in the second half of the 9th century, only two centuries after the establishment of Islam and immediately following its arrival in Central Asia. Located in northern Afghanistan, the mosque measures 65 by 65 feet (20 by 20 meters), a modest but architecturally rich religious structure.

 

 

There it is, Haja Piyada, sitting under the protective roof to keep rains from dissolving this treasure

 

The grounds keeper who opened the fence for us to let us approach the mosque and take pictures

The very humble abode where the grounds keeper and his dogs reside. Sneaked a time exposure for this. That changes one's perception of what it means to be poor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nearby village we passed on the way back to Mazar

 

 
Old Soviet hardware, here as well

 
Clean up crew

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