History of Peshawar

^{A bird eye view of Peshawar}

Being among the most ancient cities of the region between Central, South, and West Asia, Peshawar has for centuries been a centre of trade between Afghanistan, South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. As an ancient centre of learning, the 2nd century BC. Bakhshali Manuscript used in the Bakhshali approximation was found nearby.
Vedic mythology refers to an ancient settlement called Pushkalavati in the area, after Pushkal, the son of King Bharata in the epic Ramayana but this settlement's existence remains speculative and unverifiable.In recorded history, the earliest major city established in the general area of Peshawar was called Purushapura (Sanskrit for City of Men), from which the current name "Peshawar" might have been derived. the city was founded by the Kushans, a Central Asian tribe of Tocharian origin, over 2,000 years ago^.
The area that Peshawar occupies was then seized by the Greco-Bactrian king, Eucratides (170 – 159 BC), and was controlled by a series of Greco-Bactrian, and later, Indo-Greek kings, who ruled an empire that geographically spanned from the area of present-day Pakistan to North India. According to the historian, Tertius Chandler, Peshawar consisted of a population of 120,000 in the year 100 AD, making it the seventh most populous city in the world at the time. Later, the city was ruled by several Parthian and Indo-Parthian kings, another group of Iranic peoples germane to the region, the most famous of whom, Gondophares (Gandapur in Pashto), ruled the city and its environs, starting in circa 46 AD; the period of rule by Gondophares was briefly followed by two or three of his descendants, before they were displaced by the first of the "Great Kushans", Kujula Kadphises, around the middle of the 1st century AD.

 ^{Source: Wikipedia}