When it comes to ancient history, Pakistan contains its fair share of treasures, one of the prominent of these being the ancient metropolis of Taxila. It is a city of the Gandharan civilization, sometimes known as one of its capitals, whose history can be traced from early microlithic communities at the Khanpur caves up to almost 1000 CE. Taxila was a hub of Buddhism, a centre of learning, an urban metropolis and a meeting point of various cultures, namely the Achaemenids, Greeks, Mauryans, Scythians, Parthians, Kushans, Huns and eventually the Muslims.
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Timeline
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c. 1500 BCE - c. 500 CEThe Gandhara Civilization flourishes in what is today the northern portion of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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c. 520 BCE - c. 325 CEAchaemenid rule in the Gandhara region.
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c. 325 BCE - c. 320 BCEGreek rule in Gandhara, ending some time after the death of Alexander the Great.
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c. 320 BCE - c. 180 BCEMauryan rule in the Gandhara region, beginning with Chandragupta Maurya.
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c. 80 BCE - c. 75 CEThe combined Scytho-Parthians rule Gandhara.
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c. 75 CE - c. 450 CEKushan rule in the Gandhara region, arguably the golden era of the Gandhara civilization in which art, architecture and the propagation of the Buddhist religion excelled.
