What is Arachosia?
[[File:Xerxes I tomb Arachosian soldier circa 470 BCE.jpg|thumb|Relief at [[Naqsh-e Rustam|Naqsh-e Rostam]], on the tomb of [[Xerxes I]], showing an Arachosian soldier of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] army (c. 470 BCE).]] '''Arachosia''' ({{IPAc-en|ær|ə|ˈ|k|oʊ|s|i|ə}}; {{lang-grc|Ἀραχωσία|label=[[Ancient Greek|Greek]]}} {{Transliteration|grc|Arachōsíā}}), or '''Harauvatis''', was an ancient [[province]] (satrapy) of the eastern [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid empire]]. The name originates from [[Old Persian language|Old Persian]]. Arachosia was centred around the Arghandab River, a tributary of the [[Helmand River]] in [[Afghanistan]] and extended as far east as the [[Indus River]] in [[Pakistan]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0VYkEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA13|title=Identity in Persian Egypt: The Fate of the Yehudite Community of Elephantine|last=Becking|first=Bob|date=2020-08-04|publisher=Penn State Press|isbn=978-1-64602-074-4|language=en|quote=Arachosia is a mountainous area in which is now the border territory between Afghanistan and Pakistan...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cJtMBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA46|title=The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys|last=Samad|first=Rafi U.|date=2011|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-0-87586-858-5|language=en|quote=Arachosia, covering an area from Kandahar and Quetta to the western bank of the Indus, shared its northern boundary with Gandhara.}}</ref> In [[Greek language|Greek]], the satrapy's name was derived from Arachōtós, the [[Greek language|Greek-language]] name for the Arghandab River. Around 330 BCE, [[Alexander the Great]] commissioned the building of Alexandria Arachosia as Arachosia's new [[capital city]] under the [[Macedonian Empire]]. It was built on top of an earlier Persian military [[fortress]] after [[Alexander the Great|Alexander's]] conquest of Persia.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Foundation|first=Encyclopaedia Iranica|title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Irani