Uzbekistan's southernmost city — Buddhist ruins at the Afghanistan border
Termez sits on the Amu Darya River at the border with Afghanistan — one of the most southerly points of Uzbekistan and one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, founded by Greek colonists in the 4th century BCE. The city's extraordinary archaeological depth spans Greek, Kushan Buddhist, early Islamic, and Mongol layers: the Fayaz-Tepe and Kampyr-Tepe Buddhist monastery complexes (1st–3rd century CE) are among the best-preserved Buddhist ruins in Central Asia, built when the Kushan Empire made Termez a major Buddhist pilgrimage centre. The Archaeological Museum of Termez houses the finest coll…
Termez's position on the Amu Darya made it one of the great crossing points of the ancient Silk Road — goods flowing between India and the Mediterranean passed through here, and the Kushan Empire's embrace of Buddhism created a remarkable 2nd–3rd century monastic culture that archaeologists are still excavating. The city was destroyed by Alexander in 329 BCE, rebuilt as a Greek city, transformed by the Kushanis into a Buddhist centre, then devastated by Genghis Khan's armies in 1220 CE (Termez was reportedly one of the cities he completely destroyed, killing the entire population). The Soviet…