Alexander the Great's stomping grounds
Apr. 20th, 2004 12:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheUzbekistan's best kept secret
Kampyr-Tepe, in southern Uzbekistan, was built at the time of Alexander the Great's empire and occupied for about 500 years until it fell into decline.
Since it was discovered, a generation ago, it has been closed to the public because it stands in a sensitive and tightly guarded military zone, right on the Afghan border.
[...] It was here that Alexander raised his capital more than 2,000 years ago. This was the furthest conquest, then, of the Greeks in Asia.
From our vantage point, we could see why. Far below, beneath a swirl of starlings, we could see the plains melt into those of Afghanistan, Alexander's route here from Persia.
[...] "You see that big pit there," said an old farmer, Hamrah Baba, living on the plains to the north of Kampyr-Tepe.
"When I was a boy, we used to lower each other down there in turns, hanging on a rope. We did not think it was special.
"Then, these men came from Tashkent and found all sorts of things. They found gold and those chessmen."
The gold was 35kg of solid gold jewellery, set with turquoises. The chess pieces may be the oldest on earth.
Kampyr-Tepe, in southern Uzbekistan, was built at the time of Alexander the Great's empire and occupied for about 500 years until it fell into decline.
Since it was discovered, a generation ago, it has been closed to the public because it stands in a sensitive and tightly guarded military zone, right on the Afghan border.
[...] It was here that Alexander raised his capital more than 2,000 years ago. This was the furthest conquest, then, of the Greeks in Asia.
From our vantage point, we could see why. Far below, beneath a swirl of starlings, we could see the plains melt into those of Afghanistan, Alexander's route here from Persia.
[...] "You see that big pit there," said an old farmer, Hamrah Baba, living on the plains to the north of Kampyr-Tepe.
"When I was a boy, we used to lower each other down there in turns, hanging on a rope. We did not think it was special.
"Then, these men came from Tashkent and found all sorts of things. They found gold and those chessmen."
The gold was 35kg of solid gold jewellery, set with turquoises. The chess pieces may be the oldest on earth.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-20 11:49 am (UTC)Wonderful
Date: 2004-04-20 12:12 pm (UTC)"What did they say?" I asked.
"Oh they said that we too lived here."