taxila,

Taxila or Takshashila (Punjabi and Urdu: ٹيکسلا) is a city in the Pothohar region of Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and is just south of the Haripur District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Old Taxila was for a time the capital city of ancient Gandhāra, situated on the eastern shore of the Indus River—the pivotal junction of the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia; it was possibly founded around 1000 BCE. The city was part of the Achaemenid empire's Hindush colony, between ~550 - 326 BCE. In 326 BCE, the city was conquered by Alexander the Great who gained control of the city without a battle since the city was immediately surrendered to the Macedonian Empire. This was followed successively by the Maurya Empire (~317 - ~200 BCE), the Indo-Greek Kingdom (~200 BCE - ~55 BCE), the Indo-Scythians (~80 BCE - ~30 CE), and the Kushan Empire (~ 30 CE - ~375 CE), who destroyed the existing city, in the first century CE, to build their own on a site to the north of the ruins. Owing to its strategic location, Taxila has changed hands many times over the centuries, with many polities vying for its control. When the great ancient trade routes connecting these regions ceased to be important, the city sank into insignificance and was finally destroyed in the 5th century by the invading Hunas.