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Timeline
Circa 9th century BCE | First reference to Gandhara in the tenth book of the Rigveda |
522–486 BCE | Reign of Darius I, king of Persia |
518 BCE | Gandhara becomes a Persian province |
5th century BCE | Life of Siddhartha Gautama, the historic Buddha |
327–326 BCE | Invasion of Alexander the Great, Greek-Macedonian king, into Gandhara and northwest India |
321–circa 297 BCE | Reign of Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan Empire |
312–281 BCE | Reign of Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire |
312 BCE | Gandhara is part of the Seleucid Empire |
305 BCE | In exchange for 500 war elephants, Gandhara and Arachosia become part of the Mauryan Empire |
268–240 BCE | Reign of Ashoka, ruler of the Mauryan Empire, supporter of Buddhism |
Circa 250 BCE | Foundation of the Greco-Bactrian Empire |
247 BCE | Foundation of the Parthian Empire |
Circa 180 BCE | Conquest of Gandhara and northwest India by the Greco-Bactrians |
Circa 140 BCE | Invasions of the Scythians from Central Asia (Sakas, Yuezhi, and others) |
1st century BCE | Foundation of the Indo-Scythian dynasty |
Early 1st century CE | Kingdom of Odi in the Swat valley |
Mid-1st century | Foundation of the Kushan Empire in Gandhara by a Yuezhi tribe |
127-150 | Reign of Kanishka I, Kushana ruler; first heyday of Buddhist art in Gandhara |
232 | Foundation of the Iranian Sasanian dynasty in Afghanistan; the so-called Kushanshahs become viceroys |
Circa 320 | Foundation of the Gupta Empire in North India |
400 | Chinese pilgrim monk Faxian in Gandhara |
630 | Chinese pilgrim monk Xuanzang in Bamiyan, makes a record of the giant buddhas |
861–900 | Islamic Saffarid dynasty in Afghanistan |
1008 | Gandhara comes under the reign of the Muslim Ghaznavids |