Media Atropatene and Armenia were located on the northwest border of the Iranian plateau. Both regions were under Achaemenid control and, hence, will have nominally passed to Alexander after the Macedonian king conquered the Persian Empire.¹ Nevertheless, there is no firm evidence that Alexander founded any settlement in Armenia. Although Appian claimed (Syr.55) that Armenia was one of the territories under Seleukos I Nikator’s rule, there is no general agreement as to its status.² In any event, the only settlement that can be attributed to a Seleucid monarch with any degree of probability is EPIPHANEIA on the Tigris.

In...

Polybius (8.23[25]) provides our earliest extant evidence for Arsamosata in western Armenia (Sophene). According to him Antiochos III encamped before Armosata (sic), which was located near the “Fair Plain,” between the Euphrates and the Tigris. Polybius also says that Xerxes was the king of the city.¹ This Xerxes is probably the son of Arsames, who may have been the founder of Arsamosata.² Pliny (NH6.26) said it was one of the important cities of Greater Armenia, and Tacitus (Ann.15.10) described it as a fortress. Ptolemy (5.13.19) said it was located in the region between the Euphrates and the Tigris....

Before ICHNAI and NIKEPHORION Isidore of Charax (1) mentions Alagma and says it was a fortress and a royal station. Tcherikover incorrectly recorded the toponym as “Agalma.”¹ Following on this misreading, he noted that the word is Greek, but questioned whether we are dealing here with a city.

In general see Fraenkel,REs.v. “Alagma”; Tcherikover,HS85–86.

1. The texts of both Müller (GGM1:246) and Jacoby (FGrH781) have “Alagma.”

The Armenian version of theAlexander Romanceincludes an “Alexandria of Mesopotamia” (285, trans. Wolohojian) in the list of settlements it ascribes to the Macedonian king. This, incidentally,...

In 1840 H.C. Rawlinson called attention to a passage in Theophylact Simocatta (5.7.10–11, ed. de Boor and Wirth) that mentions “Alexandriana,” which “had obtained its name from the actions of Alexander of Macedon, for the son of Philip had gone there with his Macedonian force and Greek allies, razed a very strong fortress, and slaughtered the barbarians in it” (trans. Whitby and Whitby).¹ In this connection Rawlinson recorded two local traditions: (a) that the fort of Arbela had been built by Alexander, and (b) that it had been built by Darius. Following on the former tradition, J.-G. Droysen also...

According to Arrian, Alexander was active in the area of the Shatt al-’Arab in 324 and again in 323 B.C. In 324 he sailed down the Eulaios to the mouths of the Tigris (7.7.2). Arrian does not mention any foundation in connection with this trip.

The following year, in 323, Alexander sailed 800 stades down the Euphrates to the Pallakopas (7.21.7; see also Curtius Rufus 10.4.3); thence he sailed “by it, to the lakes toward Arabia” (κατ᾽ αὐτὸν καταπλεῖ ἐς τὰς λίμνας ὡς ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀράβων γῆν).¹ There (ἔνθα), Arrian tells us, Alexander found a suitable spot, built and fortified...

The eighth Alexandreia in the list of settlements ascribed to the Macedonian king at the end of the alpha recension of theAlexander Romanceis ἐπὶ Σούσοις.¹ W.W. Tarn claimed that this reading was corrupt and suggested instead ἐν Σόγδοις. In support of this he cited two instances in which the reading Sousiana was, he claimed, an error for Sogdiana.² He then called attention to the list of Alexander’s foundations at the end of the SyriacAlexander Romance(3.24, trans. Wallis Budge): “The ninth is Alexandria which is in the country of Sôd, that is to say, Samarkand.” As Tarn...

According, to Appian (Syr.57), Achaia was founded by Seleukos I Nikator and was one of a number of settlements in Parthia that were given names from Greece or Macedonia. Assuming the information in Appian is correct, this settlement should be distinguished from the ACHAIA in Aria recorded by Strabo (11.10.1).¹

In general, see Droysen,Hist.2:750–51; Tcherikover,HS100, 102; Brodersen,Komment.160–61.

1. See also the discussion in HERAKLEIA/ACHAIS (ACHAIA) in Aria.

According to Pliny (NH6.113) there was an Alexandropolis in the region of Nisiaia, named for its founder (“regio Nisiaea Parthyenes nobilis, ubi Alexandropolis a...

Strabo (11.10.1) mentions three cities in Aria—ARTAKOANA/ARTAKAENA, Alexandreia, and Achaia—that he says bore the names of their founders.¹

1. See the discussions in ACHAIA in Parthia, ALEXANDREIA in Aria, and HERAKLEIA/ACHAIS (ACHAIA) in Aria.

Between 1965 and 1978, excavation at the site of the village of Aï Khanoum at the junction of the Amu Darya (Oxus) and Kokcha rivers in eastern Bactria revealed the existence of a previously unknown Hellenistic settlement.¹ Among other things, archaeologists uncovered the remains of aheroön,a gymnasium, a theater that could seat around 6,000 people, two temples, private dwellings, administrative areas, and...

See ARBIS in India and XYLINEPOLIS.

According to Arrian (6.15.2) in 325 B.C. Alexander ordered Philippos “to found a city there just at the meeting of the two rivers (i.e., the Akesines [modern Chenab] and Indus Rivers) . . . and dockyards to be built” (trans. Brunt).¹ Arrian says Alexander expected the city would become “great and famous.” Arrian does not give the name of the city. However, it is possibly the same Alexandreia as that mentioned by Curtius Rufus (9.8.8) and by Diodorus (17.102.4), which, the latter says, was initially populated by 10,000 settlers. The existence of this settlement...