Astonishing Bactrian marble bird on stand with many additional carvings, 300-200BCThere are several additional carvings on the body of the bird: Carved feline on the left wing, Carved worrier with a bow or a sword on the right sideCarved antelope on the top of the back;Carved animal on the front of the bird;5 carvings on the stand: Horse, Worrier with a bow, three worriers with bows or swords Weight of the bird: 22.38gWeight of the stand: 16.64g;Total weight of bird + stand: 39.05g;Provenance: Ex-European collection;Bactria or Bactriana was the name of a historical region in Central Asia. The English name Bactria is derived from the Ancient Greek Βακτριανή, a Hellenized version of the Bactrian endonym Bakhlo (βαχλο). Analogous names include the Persian/Pashto باختر Bākhtar, Uzbek Балх, Tajik: Бохтар, Chinese: 大夏 Dàxià, and Sanskrit बाह्लीक Bāhlika.Bactria was the birthplace of Zoroastrianism, and later important in the history of Buddhism. It became part of the Islamic caliphate during the 7th century.Bactria was located between the Hindu Kush mountain range and the Amu Darya river, covering the flat region that straddles modern-day Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.Bactria, the territory of which Bactra [Balkh] was the capital, originally consisted of the area south of the Āmū Daryā with its string of agricultural oases dependent on water taken from the rivers of Balḵ (Bactra) [Balkh], Tashkurgan, Kondūz [Kunduz], Sar-e Pol, and Šīrīn Tagāō [Shirin Tagab]. This region played a major role in Central Asian history. At certain times the political limits of Bactria stretched far beyond the geographic frame of the Bactrian plain.Pre-Islamic period of AfghanistanArchaeological exploration of the pre-Islamic period of Afghanistan began in Afghanistan in earnest after World War II and proceeded until the late 1970s when the nation was invaded by the Soviet Union. Archaeologists and historians suggest that humans were living in Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities of the region were among the earliest in the world.[1] Urbanized culture has existed in the land from between 3000 and 2000 BC.[1][2][3] Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron ages have been found inside Afghanistan.[3]After the Indus Valley Civilization which stretched up to northeast Afghanistan,[4] it was inhabited by the Iranian tribes and controlled by the Medes until about 500 BC when Darius the Great (Darius I) marched with his Persian army to make it part of the Achaemenid Empire. In 330 BC, Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded the land after defeating Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela. Much of Afghanistan became part of the Seleucid Empire followed by the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. The area south of the Hindu Kush had been given by Seleucus I Nicator to Chandragupta Maurya and became part of the Maurya Empire.