Arachosia

Arachosia (/ærəˈkoʊsiə/; Greek: Ἀραχωσία Arachōsíā), or Harauvatis, was an ancient province (satrapy) of the eastern Achaemenid empire. The name originates from Old Persian. Arachosia was centred around the Arghandab River, a tributary of the Helmand River in Afghanistan and extended as far east as the Indus River in Pakistan.^[1][2]

Relief at Naqsh-e Rostam, on the tomb of Xerxes I, showing an Arachosian soldier of the Achaemenid army (c. 470 BCE).

In Greek, the satrapy's name was derived from Arachōtós, the Greek-language name for the Arghandab River. Around 330 BCE, Alexander the Great commissioned the building of Alexandria Arachosia as Arachosia's new capital city under the Macedonian Empire. It was built on top of an earlier Persian military fortress after Alexander's conquest of Persia.^[3]