Gandāra
Gandāra, or Gadāra in Achaemenid inscriptions (Old Persian cuneiform: 𐎥𐎭𐎠𐎼, Gadāra, also transliterated as Gaⁿdāra since the nasal "n" before consonants was omitted in the Old Persian script, and simplified as Gandāra or sometimes Gandara) was one of the easternmost provinces of the Achaemenid Empire in South Asia, following the Achaemenid invasion of the Indus Valley. It appears in various Achaemenid inscriptions such as the Behistun Inscription, or the DNa inscription of Darius the Great.
| Achaemenid Gandhāra | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire | |||||||||||||||||||||
| c. 535 BCE–c. 4th century BCE | |||||||||||||||||||||
Gandāra was the easternmost territory of the Achaemenid Empire | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||||||||||
| • Type | Monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||||
| King or King of Kings | |||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 535-530 BCE | Cyrus II (first) | ||||||||||||||||||||
• 359/8–338 BCE | Artaxerxes III (last) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Achaemenid era | ||||||||||||||||||||
| c. 535 BCE | |||||||||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | c. 4th century BCE | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The province was also referred to as Para-uparisaina (Ancient Greek: Παροπαμισάδαι, Paropamisádai; Latin: Paropamisadae) in the Babylonian and Elamite versions of the Behistun inscription. The extent of the province was apparently wider than the actual geographical region of Gandhara.