Empire

Ancient City of Taxila

Taxila is situated about 35 km to the west of Capital Territory Islamabad and to the northwest of Rawalpindi, Punjab, pakistan, just off the Grand Trunk Road (GT Road) built by Pathan Ruler Sher Shah Suuri.

Taxila (Urdu: ٹیکسلا, Sanskrit: तक्षशिला Takṣaśilā, Pali:Takkasilā) is an important archaeological site in Pakistan containing the ruins of the Gandhāran city of Taxila (also Takkasila or Takshashila ).

Taxila was very famous, it is mentioned in several languages: in Sanskrit, the city was called Takshaçila, which may be interpreted as "prince of the serpent tribe"; in Pâli it was known as Takkasilâ; the Greeks knew the town as Taxila (Ταξίλα), which the Romans rendered as Taxilla; the Chinese called it Chu Ch'a-shi-lo.
Taxila was built between the 7th century.BC. It was a flourishing city, famous as an ancient seat of learning. It was occupied (326 BC) by Alexander the Great, became prosperous under the empire of Asoka, and was overrun (1st-2d cent. AD) by the Kushans. It was a center of Buddhist studies and was visited in the 7th cent. by Hsüan-tsang . There are remains of Buddhist stupas and monasteries as well as sculpture of the Gandharan school of art.

The main cities of Taxila are :

1: Birmound or Bhir Mound [7th century BC to 2nd Century BC] (600 – 190 B.C)
The first city site known as "Bhir Mound" flourished before the arrival of the Greeks. It is situated on a small plateau past Tamra Nala, a seasonal stream. The layout of the city is very haphazard. The streets are narrow and the plans of the houses are also irregular and built of rubble stone.

2: Sirkap [2nd century BC to 2nd century AD] (190 B.C- 60 A.D)
The Bactrean Greeks founded the second city of Taxila in the second century BC Its remains are located in the western spurs of the Hathial Ridge and are called Sirkap. It was enclosed by a stone build city wall about three and a half miles long. It is very well planned, the houses being grouped into square blocks and straight wide streets cutting each other at right angles.

3: Sirsukh [2nd century AD to 5th century AD] (78 - 480 A.D)
The third city of Sirsukh, dates back to the early Kushan times. It is situated to the north east of Sirkap.
In 1980, Taxila was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site with multiple locations.
Historically, Taxila lay at the crossroads of three major trade routes: the royal highway from Pāṭaliputra; the north-western route through Bactria, Kāpiśa, and Puṣkalāvatī (Peshawar); and the route from Kashmir and Central Asia, via Śrinigar, Mānsehrā, and the Haripur valley across the Khunjerab pass to the Silk Road.