Nicaea or Nikaia ( grc, Νίκαια) was a city in what is now the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, one of the two cities founded by

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

on opposite sides of the

Hydaspes The Jhelum River (/dʒʰeːləm/) is a river in the northern Indian subcontinent. It originates at Verinag and flows through the Indian administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir, to the Pakistani-administered territory of Kashmir, and then ...

river. The second city founded by Alexander on the Hydaspes was Bucephala. It was at Nicaea or Bucephalia, which appears to have been on the opposite bank, that Alexander (according to

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

) built the fleet which

Nearchus Nearchus or Nearchos ( el, Νέαρχος; – 300 BC) was one of the Greek officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. He is known for his celebrated expeditionary voyage starting from the Indus River, through the Persian Gulf and e ...

subsequently commanded, the country in the immediate neighbourhood having abundance of wood fit for shipbuilding. Following the Battle of the Hydaspes, Alexander founded two cities. One of the sites of the battle he named Alexandria ''Nicaea'' meaning ''Victory''. The site of that city is still undetermined. Any attempt to find the ancient battle site is doomed, because the landscape has changed considerably. A reference to Nicaea may appear in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, a Buddhist text of the early centuries CE. This text refers to two cities called Ādirājya ("Place of the First Kingship") and Bhadrāśva ("Place of the Good Horse") located on the Vitastā (i.e., Hydaspes) River along the road from Gandhāra to Mathurā. The Buddhists attributed these two cities to the mythical king

Mahāsammata Mahāsammata (; also spelled Maha Samrat; lit. "the Great Elect"), also known as Khattiya and Rāja, was the first monarch of the world according to Buddhist tradition. The chronicles of Theravada Buddhist tradition such as ''Mahāvaṃsa'' and ...

, but some modern scholars propose to identify them as the two cities founded by Alexander the Great, Nicaea and Bucephala.

Location

A number of candidates have been put forward for the location: * For the moment, the most plausible location is just south of the city of Jhelum, where the ancient main road crossed the river, and where a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

source indeed mentions a city that may be Nicaea. Huntingford identifies this Alexandria with a large mound west of

Jhelum Jhelum ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city on the east bank of the Jhelum River, which is located in the district of Jhelum in the north of Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 44th largest city of Pakistan by population. Jhelum is known for p ...

city, while Lendering cites

in more general terms. * The nineteenth-century British traveller

Alexander Burnes Captain Sir Alexander Burnes (16 May 1805 – 2 November 1841) was a Scottish explorer, military officer, and diplomat associated with the Great Game. He was nicknamed Bokhara Burnes for his role in establishing contact with and expl ...

, visiting the region in 1831, suggests the "extensive

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

called Oodeenuggur" 15 miles south of Jhelum are the remains of Nicaea, with a mound at Mong on the opposite bank of the

being the site of

Bucephalia Alexandria Boukephala and Alexandria Nikaia were two cities founded by Alexander the Great during his invasion of the Indian subcontinent. Two of many cities founded by the Macedonian king, the cities were founded on either side of the Hydaspes ...

. *

Alexander Cunningham Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly ...

, writing in 1871 was in support of Mong as the site of the town and wrote "The old ruined mound on which Mong is situated is 600 feet long by 400 feet broad and 50 feet high and is visible for many miles on all sides. It contains 975 houses built of large old bricks and 5000 inhabitants who are mainly Jats. The old wells are very numerous, their exact number according to my information being 175...

Coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

s of all the

Indo-Scythian Indo-Scythians (also called Indo-Sakas) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples of Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into modern day Pakistan and Northwestern India from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th centur ...

princes are found at Mong in considerable numbers, and I see no reason to doubt that the place is as old as Alexander."Alexander Cunningham, The Ancient Geography of India vol 1Trübner and Company, 1871 p178. * The identification of the battle site near modern

Jalalpur Jalalpur is a town, tehsil and a municipal board in Ambedkar Nagar district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Geography Jalalpur is located at . It has an average elevation of . The city is directly connected to Azamgarh, Akbarpu ...

/Haranpur is certainly erroneous, as the river, in the ancient times, meandered far from these cities.P.H.L. Eggermont,
Alexander's campaign in Southern Punjab
' (1993), p. 12. * The Hungarian

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

and

Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...

expert Sir Marc Aurel Stein believed that instead of using the

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

from

Taxila Taxila or Takshashila (; sa, तक्षशिला; pi, ; , ; , ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and ...

which dates from

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

times, Alexander's army would have gone

south South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

to cross the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

near modern Bhera. At this site the

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

would have happened near the town of Mong. The

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

, river orientation and natural features including salt cliffs in this vicinity match closely the description given in ancient sources. To further support this claim, the residents of Mong and nearby Phalia have a traditional claim that Mong is

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

Nicaea.

References

{{Reflist Mandi Bahauddin District Cities founded by Alexander the Great 320s BC establishments Lost ancient cities and towns

Location

See also

References