Taxila: Ancient City of Cut Stone

Taxila is an ancient city and World Heritage Site in Punjab, Pakistan on the eastern bank of the Indus River.

Founded around 1000 BCE, Taxila is one of the oldest cities in South Asia. Pottery shards from Hathial date earlier.

In 326 BCE, King Taxiles surrendered to Alexander the Great without a battle.

The Indo-Greeks built Sirkap as a new capital in the 2nd century BCE. It sat opposite Taxila.

Kushan ruler Kanishka founded Sirsukh, the most recent ancient settlement at Taxila. The city traded silk and spices.

White Huns devastated Taxila around 470 CE. Xuanzang found sangharamas ruined and mostly desolate in 630 CE. Only a few monks remained by then.

Taxila's university remained in existence then.

Alexander Cunningham rediscovered the ruins in the mid-19th century.