page_title: Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription
section_title: Other inscriptions in Greek in Kandahar
hierarchical_section_title: Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription / Other inscriptions in Greek in Kandahar
caption_attribution_description: Ruins of old Kandahar Citadel. Photograph of the ruins of old Kandahar citadel from the 'Bellew Collection: Photograph album of Surgeon-General Henry Walter Bellew' taken by Sir Benjamin Simpson c.1881. Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan and is situated in the south of the region. Although the old citadel was destroyed by Nadir Shah Afshar of Persia in 1738, the Battle of Maiwand was fought in its ruins in 1880. This conflict secured the rule of Abdur Rahman as the Amir of Afghanistan (1844-1901). At the top of this fortified citadel there are the ruins of a royal residence.
context_page_description: The Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription, is a famous bilingual edict in Greek and Aramaic, proclaimed and carved in stone by the Indian Maurya Empire ruler Ashoka around 260 BCE. It is the very first known inscription of Ashoka, written in year 10 of his reign, preceding all other inscriptions, including his early Minor Rock Edicts, his Barabar caves inscriptions or his Major Rock Edicts. This first inscription was written in Classical Greek and Aramaic exclusively. It was discovered in 1958, and is known as KAI 279.
  It is sometimes considered as one of the several "Minor Rock Edicts" of Ashoka, in contrast to his "Major Rock Edicts" which contain portions or the totality of his Edicts from 1 to 14. Two edicts in Afghanistan have been found with Greek inscriptions, one of these being this bilingual edict in Greek language and Aramaic, the other being the Kandahar Greek Inscription in Greek only. This bilingual edict was found on a rock on the mountainside of Chehel Zina, which forms the western natural bastion of ancient Alexandria Arachosia and present Kandahar's Old City.
  The Edict is still in place on the mountainside.
context_section_description: The other well-known Greek inscription, the Kandahar Greek Edict of Ashoka, was found 1.5 kilometers to the south of the Bilingual Rock Inscription, in the ancient city of Old Kandahar (known as Zor Shar in Pashto, or Shahr-i-Kona in Dari), Kandahar, in 1963. It is thought that Old Kandahar was founded in the 4th century BCE by Alexander the Great, who gave it the Ancient Greek name Αλεξάνδρεια Aραχωσίας (Alexandria of Arachosia). The Edict is a Greek version of the end of the 12th Edicts (which describes moral precepts) and the beginning of the 13th Edict (which describes the King's remorse and conversion after the war in Kalinga). This inscription does not use another language in parallel. It is a plaque of limestone, which probably had belonged to a building, and its size is 45x69.5 cm. The beginning and the end of the fragment are lacking, which suggests the inscription was original significantly longer, and may have included all fourteen of Ashoka's Edicts, as in several other locations in India. The Greek language used in the inscription is of a very high level and displays philosophical refinement. It also displays an in-depth understanding of the political language of the Hellenic world in the 3rd century BCE. This suggest the presence of a highly cultured Greek presence in Kandahar at that time.
  Two other inscriptions in Greek are known at Kandahar. One is a dedication by a Greek man who names himself "son of Aristonax" (3rd century BCE). The other is an elegiac composition by  Sophytos son of Naratos (2nd century BCE).
caption: An 1881 photo showing the ruined Old Kandahar citadel ("Zor Shar") where the second Greek edict was discovered.[1]
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