Begram

A site in eastern Afghanistan north of Kabul which has been identified as Kapisa, the capital of several Indo-Greek rulers of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC and the Kushan summer capital from the 1st century BC to 3rd century AD. It was important for its placement on the caravan route between India and the West. Excavations have yielded fragmentary ivory furniture, pre-Islamic footstools of Indian origin (both c 1st c AD), as well as painted glass from Alexandria; plaster matrices, bronzes, porphyries, and alabasters from Rome; carved ivories from India; and lacquers from China. The Persian Sasanians established control over parts of Afghanistan, including Begram, in AD 241.

A site in Afghanistan, confidently identified as Kapisa, the capital of several Indo-Greek rulers in the 3rd — 2nd centuries BC, a summer residence of the Kushan Kings (1st century BC to 3rd century ad) and an important town on the caravan route between India and the West. Excavations in the so-called ‘palace’ yielded an astonishing collection of objets de luxe, which range in date from the late 1st to the early 3rd century ad: Chinese lacquer, Indian ivories and Roman bronzes, glass vessels and plaster models, presumably intended to serve as exemplars for non-Roman craftsmen. The objects were found in two rooms, the doorways of which had been walled-up in a (successful) attempt to prevent discovery by looters. Although the nature of the collection is uncertain — the stock of a merchant-manufacturer, perhaps — it provides a vivid reminder of the range of contacts enjoyed by the cities of the international caravan routes.