BALKH (some think anc. Bactra or Zariaspa), Afghan city, about Ioo m. E. of Andkhui and some 46 m. S. of the Oxus, sit uated on the right bank of the Balkh river, 1,200 ft. above the sea. It comprises about 50o houses of Afghan settlers, a colony of Jews and a small bazaar, set in the midst of a waste of ruins and debris. The outer walls (mostly in utter disrepair) are about 61 to 7 m. in perimeter, and on the south-eastern borders are set high on a mound or rampart, indicating a Mongol origin. The walled and moated fort and citadel to the north-east are built above the town on a barren mound. The Masjid Sabz, with its green-tiled dome, is said to be the tomb of a Khwaja, Abul Narsi Parsar. The earlier Buddhist constructions have proved more durable than the Mohammedan buildings. The Top-i-Rustam is 5o yards in diam eter at the base and 3o yards at the top, circular and about 5o f t. high. It is possible that in these ruins we may recognize the Nan Vihara of the Chinese traveller Hsuan Tsang. There are the re mains of many other topes (or stupas) in the neighbourhood. The mounds of ruins on the road to Mazar-i-Sharif probably represent a city older than those on which is Balkh. Zariaspa and Bactra were probably distinct sites and may not have been identical with Balkh. The city is guarded by a few policemen; there is a garrison at Deb-Dandi. The gardens to the north-east contain a caravanserai. The natives speak of it as the Mother of Cities. Its foundation is mythically ascribed to Kaiomurs, the Persian Romulus ; and it is at least certain that, at a very early date, it was the rival of Ecbatana, Nineveh and Babylon. For a long time the city and country were the central seat of the Zoroastrian re ligion, the founder of which is said to have died within the walls. The most remarkable convent was the Nazi Behar, Nava Bihara or New Convent, which possessed a very costly statue of Buddha. A curious notice of this building is found in the Arabian geog rapher Yaqut. Arab travellers of the loth and 12th centuries mention the town. There were several important commercial routes from the city, stretching as far east as India and China. In 1220 Jenghiz Khan sacked Balkh, butchered its inhabitants and levelled all the buildings capable of defence—treatment to which it was again subjected in the 14th century by Timur. Notwith standing this, however, Marco Polo can still, in the following century, describe it as "a noble city and a great." Balkh formed the government of Aurangzeb in his youth. In 1736 it was con quered by Nadir Shah. Under the Durani monarchy it fell into the hands of the Afghans ; it was conquered by Shah Murad of Kunduz in 1820, and for some time was subject to the khan of Bokhara. In 185o Mahommed Akram Khan, Barakzai, captured Balkh, and from that time it remained under Afghan rule.