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Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 6:25 am
by JohnT
well, ill say this on the subject, not to sound rude or crass, but the culture you are dealing with her as a whole, could give a damn about any artifacts from the past. There is 2 reasons for this. Of course this is just supposition.

1. As a collective group, they have no interest in ancient history, there a fragmented tribal culture, and they like it that way for the most part.

2. If your not of the muslum faith, Then historicaly speaking, your not of importance.

I'm sure many of you will disagree, unfortunately im basing this on what ive seen while ive been here.. This is my third time in afghanistan, and the people as a whole are great. But there priorities and lifestyles while good for them, are not the same as ours. History really has no meaning to them atm.

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:27 pm
by Taphoi
Hi JohnT,

I suspect that the local people would take more of an interest in helping you to find Prophthasia, if they realised that there would be huge tourist potential in the future if substantial remains of this fortress/city could be located. In a relatively impoverished and isolated region, this could be a very valuable source of income for the local people.

The fortress that you have found is rather more spectacular than the lost Afghan city of Alexander in the Kipling film, "The Man Who Would Be King" (Sean Connery, Michael Caine...)!

Best wishes,

Andrew

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:00 am
by JohnT
Guy's ill be the first one to tell you that i dont know of the political or longterm ramifications of taking a coin or whatnot out of here, So ill just leave it alone.. I'm just a dumb army guy..But on a positive note, i found ANOTHER one..sorry no pictures fellas it was very unexpected, its approx 25 miles due north of this last one, its also on a high ridge, but has a VERY long wall that wraps around to form a protected bowl, with the fortress sitting high up on the south end. Its almost perfectly 25 miles north of farrah and the same south of harrat.. in the shendan area. try and find it on google earth..its big should be able to see it !! Still workin on gettin more pics up, will probly have to wait till i get back to kandahar. and still workin on the terps to give me the lowdown on this place and some pics of coins and whatnot !!

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:16 am
by Taphoi
Hi JohnT,

We would probably need a latitude and longitude to find it that far away from Farah. The location is probably too close to Herat for it to be a good candidate for Prophthasia, but it could be a useful comparison for the "Castle of the Infidels".

Looking forward to more photos, when you get the chance.

Best wishes,

Andrew

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:18 pm
by derek
John,

Great photos. Very atmospheric. I find myself just staring at them; can almost see the ghosts still manning the ramparts! Thanks for one of the most interesting threads on Pothos in a good while.

Derek

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 12:58 am
by ruthaki
This was an absolutely fascinating post. Thanks so much for sharing all this knowlege and the photos which are fabulous! Too bad you're there in the role you are in, John, and not able to tramp around there and explore like the archaeologist you'd like to have been.

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 5:56 pm
by ruthaki
This is so fascinating and wonderful to see these photos. Thanks for sharing. I'm writing a historical fiction novel about the fall of Alexander's dynasty and have studied about him since I was in my teens so any little glimpse of his journey in the past is a treasure!

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:50 pm
by derek
Seems like we’re not going to hear from John again. Let’s hope he’s ok, and has just been ordered off for security reasons or whatever.

Derek

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:43 am
by pritamsingh98
Stephanus Byzantinus in his entry for "Phrada" says that this place was called Prophthasia by Alexander and that it was a town among the Drangae (aka Zarangae).

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 6:45 pm
by Nattydreadbushdoc
Might be able to provide more photos of this fortress if there is an interest. Please let me know I don't want to waste anyone's time.

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 6:20 pm
by marcus
Nattydreadbushdoc wrote:Might be able to provide more photos of this fortress if there is an interest. Please let me know I don't want to waste anyone's time.
I would be surprised if *anyone* here would see it as a waste of your time! Please post away, if you are able to.

I, for one, would love to see some more pics.

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:09 am
by IIITHREEPERIII
I happened to stumble upon this post while searching for Alexander the Great's history in Afghanistan. As it turns out I was at Farrah at the same time as the OP. I used to do foot patrols around the ruins that he posted pictures of and have some pretty unique memories of that place.

If I can I will attempt to contact my old PL who had a decent amount of photos from this area, including one of myself looking magnificent atop the ruins with a perfect sunset background. :p No promises but I'll see what I can scrape up, and I would love to see anything anyone else may have from there too. Oh my the nostalgia...

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 10:59 am
by ScorpioM
Just happened to visit Northern areas of Pakistan In District Chatral of Province KPK. According to some theories they are the descendants of the soldiers of Alexander the great's Army. Here is an amazing article on Kelash Valley and It's people that made me visit here.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-gly ... 11627.html

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 10:06 pm
by Alexias
The photojournalist David Adams featured these people in his Alexander series https://davidadamsfilms.wordpress.com/

Re: alex in afghanistan

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 12:58 pm
by Semiramis
Hi all,

Genetic studies indicate the Kalash are not descendants of Alexander the Great (2007). They are likely descendants of hunter-gatherers from Serbia who moved to the region during the Paleolithic times, way before Alexander. Which is going back even further and very interesting.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2588664/ (2007)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4570283/ (2015)

The Alexander story maybe from Kalash history. Or it was first suggested by a colonial officer because of some having light eyes/skin. It was based on the now discredited "racial theory" and was dismissed by scientists after WWII.

Anyhow, the Alexander ancestry theory was revived before the invasion of Afghanistan to generate loaded headlines/sympathy and quickly gained currency. You can scroll over the hyperlink ( you will see the titles near the status bar) to get a feel for the angle. ;)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6214794 ... Great.html

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/ ... hindu-kush

The headlines continue in different forms though. The 2007 finding is ignored. People believe what they want to believe. :)

http://www.dailystormer.com/what-our-ra ... s-of-asia/

http://www.bristolgreeks.co.uk/index.ph ... -alexander

https://forums.finalgear.com/off-topic/ ... eat-27378/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-gly ... 11627.html

http://travel.cnn.com/mumbai/life/kalas ... an-261067/

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-13466250