The city of Herat, which is currently the regional capital of
western Afghanistan, has long been of strategic, commercial and
cultural significance to the wider region. Although the city has
developed extensively in modern times, and has suffered the
ravages of conflict, the site is unique in that it has largely
retained its historical footprint, and many significant Islamic
monuments have survived. The contemporary city of Herat is
thought to have been established in around 500 BC as the ancient
Persian town of Artacoana or Aria, in the fertile plain beside
the Hari Rud river. Captured by Alexander the Great in 330 BC
during his war against the Achaemenids, the town was developed
and a citadel built. The site retained its strategic importance,
and was an important asset for the Seleucids, Parthians and
Hephthalites, before becoming the western bastion of the Abbasid
caliphate at the end of the 8th century AD. By the time of its
capture by the Ghorids in 1175 AD, Herat had become renowned for
the production o