Kandahar Greek Edicts of Ashoka

Kandahar Greek Edicts of Ashoka
Greek inscription by king Ashoka, discovered in Kandahar
Material	Sandstone tablet
Size	45 by 69.5 centimetres (17.7 in × 27.4 in)
Writing	Greek
Created	circa 258 BCE
Period/culture	3rd Century BCE
Discovered	31°36′09N 65°39′32E
Place	Old Kandahar, Kandahar, Afghanistan

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Location of the Kandahar Greek Inscription in Afghanistan.

The Kandahar Greek Edicts of Ashoka are among the Major Rock Edicts of the Indian Emperor Ashoka (reigned 269-233 BCE), which were written in the Greek language and Prakrit language. They were found in the ancient area of Old Kandahar (known as Zor Shar in Pashto, or Shahr-i-Kona in Persian) in Kandahar in 1963.^[1] It is thought that Old Kandahar was founded in the 4th century BCE by Alexander the Great, who gave it the Ancient Greek name Ἀλεξάνδρεια Ἀραχωσίας (Alexandria of Arachosia).

The extant edicts are found in a plaque of limestone, which probably belonged to a building, and its size is 45 by 69.5 centimetres (17.7 in × 27.4 in) and it is about 12 centimetres (4.7 in) thick. These are the only Ashoka inscriptions thought to have belonged to a stone building.^[1][2] The beginning and the end of the fragment are lacking, which suggests the inscription was original significantly longer, and may have included all 14 of Ashoka's Edicts in Greek, as in several other locations in India.^[2] The plaque with the inscription was bought in the Kandahar market by the German doctor Seyring, and French archaeologists found that it had been excavated in Old Kandahar. The plaque was then offered to the Kabul Museum,^[3] but its current location is unknown following the looting of the museum in 1992–1994.^[4]