Nagara (ancient city)

For other uses, see Nagara (disambiguation) and Dionysopolis (disambiguation).

Nagara (Ancient Greek: Νάγαρα), also known as Dionysopolis (Διονυσόπολις), was an ancient city in the northwest part of India intra Gangem^{[lower-alpha 1]} ("India within the Ganges"), distinguished in Ptolemy by the title ἡ καὶ Διονυσόπολις 'also Dionysopolis'.^[2] It also appears in sources as Nagarahara,^[3] and was situated between the Kabul River and the Indus, in present-day Afghanistan. The site of Nagara is usually associated with a large stupa called Nagara Ghundi, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) west of Jalalabad near Tepe Khwaja Lahori, south of the junction of the Surkhäb and Kabul rivers, where ancient ruins have been found.^[4]

Map marking the extent of ancient Nagarahara according to the work of William Simpson^[1]

Dionysopolis and Nysa

For other settlements known as "Nysa", see Nysa (disambiguation).

From the second name which Ptolemy has preserved, Dionysopolis, we are led to believe that this is the same place as Nysa (Νύσα) or Nyssa (Νύσσα), which, according to ancient historians, was spared from plunder and destruction by Alexander the Great because the inhabitants asserted that it had been founded by Dionysus, when he conquered the area and he named the city Nysa and the land Nysaea (Νυσαία) after his nurse and also he named the mountain near the city, Meron (Μηρὸν) (i.e. thigh), because he grew in the thigh of Zeus.^[5][6][7]

When Alexander arrived at the city, together with his Companion cavalry went to the mountain and they made ivy garlands and crowned themselves with them, as they were, singing hymns in honor of Dionysus. Alexander also offered sacrifices to Dionysus, and feasted in company with his companions.^[6] On the other hand, according to Philostratus although Alexander wanted to go up the mountain he decided not to do it because he was afraid that when his men will see the vines which were on the mountain they would feel home sick or they will recover their taste for wine after they had become accustomed to water only, so he decided to make his vow and sacrifice to Dionysus at the foot of the mountain.^[8]

Greco-Bactrian settlement

Nagahara, the ancient Capital of the Jellalabad region, Simpson 1881

Archaeologist Zemaryalai Tarzi has suggested that, following the fall of the Greco-Bactrian cities of Ai-Khanoum and Takht-i Sangin, Greek populations were established in the plains of Jalalabad, which included Hadda, around the Hellenistic city of Dionysopolis, and that they were responsible for the Greco-Buddhist creations of Tapa Shotor in the 2nd century CE.^[9]

See also

• Charles Masson – British East India Company soldier, explorer and amateur archaeologist
• Nagarahara (kingdom) [zh]
• Nangarhar Province – Province of Afghanistan
• Xuanzang – 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar

Notes

1. In Greco-Roman geography, the Ganges river divided the known area of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia into India intra Gangem and India extra Gangem, each roughly corresponding to the peninsular region of South Asia and mainland Southeast Asia respectively.

References

1. Errington, Elizabeth (2017). "Charles Masson and the Buddhist Sites of Afghanistan: Explorations, Excavations, Collections 1832−1835". British Museum Research Publication. 215: 156 (Figure 239). doi:10.48582/CHARLESMASSON_VOL1.
2. Ptolemy. The Geography. Vol. 7.1.43.
3. Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 6, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.
4. "Afghanistan Significant Site 155. Nagara Ghundi". www.cemml.colostate.edu. Archived from the original on 2015-07-17. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
5. Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, 5.1
6. Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, 5.2
7. Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 6.23.5
8. Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 2.10
9. Tarzi, Zémaryalai (24 February 2001). "Le site ruiné de Hadda". In Marigo, V. (ed.). Afghanistan. Patrimoine en péril. Actes d'une journée d'étude (in French). p. 63.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Nagara". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.